Tunisia beat Equatorial Guinea to end seven points clear atop Group J

by Bertin Basson

Sunday Mar 28, 2021. 16:55

Tunisia defeated Equatorial Guinea 2-1 at Stade Olympique de Rades on Sunday to end their 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifying campaign unbeaten, with five wins and a draw from their allotted fixtures.

Victory moved the Eagles of Carthage up to 16 points in Group J, seven clear of Nzalang Nacional who like Tunisia had already qualified for next year’s tournament before the match, following their win over Tanzania earlier this week.

2022 AFCON QUALIFIERS GROUP STANDINGS

Tunisia went into the fixture in free-scoring form following their 5-2 victory at Libya on Thursday and carried on from where they left off as Seifeddine Jaziri found the back of the net with four minutes on the clock in Rades. The Tunisian forward ran onto a precise ball from Zamalek teammate Ferjani Sassi over the Equatorial Guinea defensive line, before finishing with aplomb.

Tunisia doubled their lead seven minutes after the half-time break, albeit through rather fortunate circumstances as Ali Abdi’s cross took a wicked deflection off Carlos Akapo before looping over Embela Gil’s head and into the back of the net.

Tunisia returned the favour with two minutes of regulation time remaining as Firas Chaouat put the ball beyond his own goalkeeper, but it proved too little too late for the visitors as the Eagles of Carthage held on for all three points.

The top two nations in each group advance to the 24-team finals hosted in Cameroon next year.

Tunisia (1) 2 (Jaziri 4′ Akapo og. 52′)

Equatorial Guinea (0) 1 1 (Chaouat og. 88′)

Tunisia: Dahmen (Hassen 46′); Abdi, Bronn, Talbi, Kechrida, Skhiri, Sassi, Slimane (Khaoui 62′), Msakni (Chaouat 82′), Rafia (Laidouni 62′), Jaziri (Bguir 72′).

Equatorial Guinea: Embela Gil; Akapo (Maye 74′), Anieboh, Orozco, Gutierrez, Obiang, Bikoro, Belima, Machin, Ndong, Obama (Ganet 86′).