Ndidi & Iheanacho Feature As Nigeria Fall To Tunisia Loss
- Wilfred Ndidi and Kelechi Iheanacho started for Nigeria at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations on Sunday
- The Leicester City duo were not able to prevent the Super Eagles from suffering defeat
- Augustine Eguavoen's men were beaten 1-0 by Tunisia in the last-16 stage
- Papy Mendy is the last remaining LCFC player at the tournament with Senegal
The Foxes duo started all three of the Super Eagles' matches at AFCON beforehand, as the three-time champions topped Group D with a 100 per cent record. Iheanacho, meanwhile, also netted the winning goal for his nation in an opening 1-0 victory over Egypt, who are among the tournament favourites.
In a re-run of the 2019 third place play-off, both Nigeria and Tunisia knew Burkina Faso awaited the winners in the quarter-finals stage. Contrary to their opponents' route, Tunisia only qualified for this stage by a narrow margin from Group F as the third-placed team, behind Mali and Gambia.
Early on at Roumdé Adjia Stadium, Ndidi was unfortunate to see an overhead-kick miss the target for Nigeria. Montassar Talbi, meanwhile, had an effort hacked off the line by Ndidi shortly afterwards. After the Super Eagles had a penalty appeal denied, they found it hard to break through before the interval.
Within seconds of the restart, Tunisia took the lead as Youssef Msakni's long-range drive squirmed through the grasp of goalkeeper Maduka Okoye and trickled over the line. Augustine Eguavoen's men went on the offensive after going behind, with Ellyes Skhiri taking the ball away from Iheanacho at the vital moment.
It would prove to be the Foxes striker's last real action of the game, as his place on the pitch was taken by Everton's Alex Iwobi, who would be sent off just four minutes in, for a heavy challenge on Msakni. Despite being a man down, Moses Simon almost levelled for Nigeria, but Bechir Ben Said saved well.
Nigeria did still have chances in the latter moments, with Simon curling wide from a well-positioned free-kick and Ndidi dragging wide from range, while former Fox Ahmed Musa was also introduced from the bench. Tunisia, though, stood tall and defended valiantly to put their name into the next round.
It means Leicester City's final representative at AFCON is midfielder Papy Mendy, who could be in action when his Senegal side tackle Cape Verde at Stade Omnisports de Bafoussam on Tuesday (4pm GMT kick-off). Daniel Amartey's Ghana, on the other hand, exited at the group stage of the contest.