🌍 AFCON: Tunisia stun ten-man Nigeria; Burkina Faso through on penalties | OneFootball

🌍 AFCON: Tunisia stun ten-man Nigeria; Burkina Faso through on penalties | OneFootball

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Joel Sanderson-Murray·23 January 2022

🌍 AFCON: Tunisia stun ten-man Nigeria; Burkina Faso through on penalties

Article image:🌍 AFCON: Tunisia stun ten-man Nigeria; Burkina Faso through on penalties

We’ve landed at the knockout stages of the Africa Cup of Nations, with the first two round-of-16 fixtures kicking off on Sunday.

Here’s what went down.


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Tunisia shock ten-man Nigeria

Scorers: Msakni 47′.

Tunisia stunned ten-man Nigeria as they booked their place in the quarter-finals after a surprise win in Garoua.

Tunisia crept ahead at the start of the second half in some style after Youssef Msakni wriggled away from Ola Aina before unleashing a powerful low shot from 25 yards out which spun away from Nigeria goalkeeper Maduka Emilio Okoye.

The situation got worse for the Super Eagles in the 66th minute when substitute Alex Iwobi saw red for a late challenge on Msakni after the referee had been referred to the pitch-side monitor.

The Everton winger had only been on the pitch for five minutes before receiving his marching orders.

But that incident killed off Gernot Rohr’s side of finding a way through although Wilfred Ndidi flashed a shot just wide from the edge of the box in the dying minutes as they searched for an equaliser.

Umar Sadiq then came off the bench and spurned a golden chance in stoppage time, firing just wide across goal after being played through one-on-one.


Burkina Faso progress on penalties

Scorers: Traoré 28′; Guira OG 90+1′.

Burkina Faso progress to the quarter-finals of AFCON after a remarkable game which ended in a dramatic penalty shootout in Limbe.

It was a rollercoaster of emotions for Bertrand Traoré in the first half as the Aston Villa forward first missed a penalty after Sidney Obissa had trod on the leg of Issa Kabore.

Traoré stepped up but rattled his spot-kick against the bar as Burkina Faso spurned a golden opportunity to go ahead.

But 10 minutes later it didn’t matter as the 26-year-old redeemed himself to give his country the lead. A swift counter attack set Traoré through on goal and his low finish struck the post before ending up in the back of the net.

Gabon almost immediately equalised in dramatic fashion when Johann Obiang spotted Herve Koffi off his line and attempted a spectacular long-range effort but the goalkeeper managed to make it back to keep the ball out before jumping on to the rebound.

The game was repeatedly stopped after a number of fouls which resulted in 14 yellow cards in total and unfortunately for the Gabonese, a red.

Article image:🌍 AFCON: Tunisia stun ten-man Nigeria; Burkina Faso through on penalties

Obissa’s evening ended in despair when he received his second booking for pulling back Dango Ouattara off the ball.

Just as it seemed like Burkina Faso were going to book their place in the quarter-finals, Gabon equalised in dramatic fashion in stoppage time when Bruno Ecuele Manga headed homefrom a corner after it took a deflection off Adama Guira to take the game into extra-time.

Two tired teams couldn’t make anything of the extra 30 minutes and so the game went to penalties after an extraordinary effort from Patrice Neveu’s side.

The first seven penalties were saved until Koffi pulled out a stunning save to stop Guélor Kanga Kaku before Burkina Faso’s Saïdou Simporé skied the very spot-kick.

Sudden death saw three missed penalties which allowed Ismahila Ouédraogo the chance to win the game which he finally did, sending the goalkeeper the wrong way.


Monday’s fixtures

Guinea v Gambia

Cameroon v Comoros