Nigeria vs Tunisia: Lookman, Nwabali lead the Best and Worst

The Super Eagles of Nigeria won a five-goal thriller at the ongoing AFCON 2025, defeating Tunisia 3-2 in their Group C encounter.

Victory seals Nigeria’s passage into the knockout round, and we review players who proved their stardust in the classic AFCON match, and others with room for improvement in upcoming games.

The Best Three Ademola Lookman: Man of the match performance from the Atalanta forward. He supplied the quick cross for Osimhen’s opener, delivered the corner kick for Ndidi’s first-ever international goal, before scoring a solo effort that proved his dribbling ad finishing attributes. Lookman was a key orchestrator of Nigeria’s attacks, and was too much to handle for the Tunisian defence.

Victor Osimhen: His goal was a relief for the striker who seem to be going through AFCON hard luck. He squandered two big chances before expertly dispatching Lookman’s cross by ghosting between two defenders like a predatory striker Nigerians have come to know. He also unselfishly laid the ball off for Lookman to score the goal that proved to be the winner.

Wilfred Ndidi: His importance to the team is evident with every game. He covers every blade of grass despite the advancing years, and rallies the troop mid-match like a captain should. His goal was the icing on an excellent performance in which he won more ground duels and tackles, and committed more fouls than any other player on the pitch.

The Worst Three Stanley Nwabali: The Chippa United goalkeeper makes the rotten list for the second consecutive AFCON game. He continued the unnecessary antics, and recklessly tackled a player after the referee’s whistle that could have dire consequences on another day. His concentration was suspect as Nigeria struggled to contain Tunisia, and he dropped a cross that could have led to a goal. The goalkeeping team need to work more on him.

Bright Osayi-Samuel: The full-back improved on his performance against Tanzania, providing more accurate passes into the final third and a joint-high three clearances. However, he was at fault for Tunisia’s second goal following a handball in the box from a cross. He needs to cut out the odd mistake.

Semi Ajayi: The lanky centre back was the main route out of defence with his ball-carrying ability, but his lack of pace and positional discipline put the Super Eagles under pressure in the game.

He was dragged out of position on multiple occasions, and could not recover in time to salvage situations.

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