Tunisia head coach Sami Trabelsi has expressed disappointment with his team’s defeat to the Super Eagles, reports Completeports.com.
The Carthage Eagles lost 3-2 to Nigeria in their second group game at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Fès on Saturday night.
Nigeria led 3-0 before Trabelsi’s side responded with two goals of their own.
Trabelsi claimed they deserved more from the game.
“Of course, there is a sense of bitterness after the match and this defeat. We felt we could have come back, especially during the final 30 minutes,” Trabelsi was quoted by CAFonline.
Read Also:AFCON 2025: We Showed Nigeria Too Much Respect In The First Half –Tunisia Defender, Valery
“The players performed at a very high level in that period; we created many chances, scored two goals and could have scored more.
“The defeat hurts, but there is also a positive aspect: it shows that we can compete with any opponent when we impose our style of play and our ball possession.
“We respected them, yes, while trying to remain balanced. We know that Nigeria have very fast and powerful players, so we tried to reduce the spaces
” In the first half we had a few chances that we should have taken. The goals we conceded came from crosses; it was not a matter of too much respect, but rather that we lost too many defensive and attacking duels.
“Once we started winning our attacking duels, we were much better and put the opponent under pressure.
“I repeat, we did not start the match well because we lost too many duels. However, over the final 35 minutes, we were dominant and the final result could have been very different.
“It is a matter of judgement. When we needed even more attacking penetration, we introduced Ismail Gharbi, but the performance of those already on the pitch was not poor. The next match will be decisive.”
By Adeboye Amosu
3 Comments
Mr man you are talking nonsense, big looser like you,
No mind am.
Instead of him to be grateful that they escaped wotowoto, thanks largely to the ref who manufactured a penalty out of thin air.
As for us, the game is a big reminder that we can’t afford to be thin in the middle.
As soon as Onyeka left the pitch, the game turned to Tunisia’s advantage.
The midfield collapse after Onyeka’s exit brought back memories of the last Afcon final. Obviously, we would have stood a better chance if we had an extra midfielder against CIV.
Going forward, we need 2 midfielders with Iwobi in the middle. Iwobi should be free to join the attack and be the base of the attack diamond, with Lookman on the left of the diamond, Akor on the right, and Osimhen as point man. The 2 box to box midfielders will keep control of the midfield and provide protection for the back four.
And of course, we need to be more clinical in front of goal. Use goals to kill off the game. This is important because we are not good at holding on to slim leads.
Well said bro coach chells is just being adamant n stubborn when is crystal clear that onyekas removal collapsed d midfield,in d present day football ur whole team is as good as ur Midfielders,coach chells has these poor management of game when it mattered most,how can u remove a midfielder n bring in a winger when u are playing against a team like Tunisia and d score is not 5-0 thats totally unacceptable,all he needed to do was just bring in onyedika to help d middle n defence and dele d lazio guy to continue where akor stopped and I swear it Tunisia would have lost that match 5-1 the Super Eagles always thrive with 3 good midfilders with a well defined roles chell I hope u have learnt your lessons thank God you didn’t learn it the hard way