In everything that is done, there must be a loser and there must be a winner. The semifinals have come and gone in the Afcon and Nigeria and Tunisia would be gutted to find themselves not in the finals. Tunisia went out from an own goal while Nigeria's heart was broken from a last gasp free kick by Mahrez which stunned them and left them heading out in the semifinals. While things might have looked really bad for them, there are some positives which they would take out. One of them would surely be that reaching the semifinals would surely mean that they get to play the third-place match against the other team who lost. When they both meet on Wednesday, they would be slugging out for the bronze medal.

Inspired

Tunisia

Tunisia is one of the standout teams in this Afcon. In fact, they are currently number 2 in Africa and have surely shown why they are that highly rated. They were removed by the number one team in Africa Senegal who are also favorites to reclaim the title when they meet Algeria in the finals later this week. They face Nigeria in this third-placed match who is third in the rankings and are currently wounded in terms of their morale. Being at their best in this game is interactive as that is the only way in which you can beat the Super Eagles of Nigeria.

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Nigeria

Nigeria had high hopes for this tournament. They came in as one of the favorites and having missed out on the last two tournaments, they would have loved to win this, especially for their eager fans. This was however not possible after they crashed out to Algeria yesterday. Now, all attention would be turned towards the third-placed match where they would hope to walk out with at least a bronze medal. However, they would be more conscious than anyone about the fact that their history in this tournament has seen them pick up more bronze medals than the gold medal. Another aspect of the game which had to be considered is the momentum.

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Both teams cannot be said to absolutely flying at the moment as both are coming off a mind shattering defeat against their opponents. However, they would still play like the great teams they are. Tunisia did not have a perfect group stage and have had a lot of draws and hard-fought victories to get here. Nigeria has lost two games rather shockingly but has been very fluid and efficient when they hit top gear. Therefore what would really be on focus here would be the ability of both teams to come back fighting and recover their mojo before the game kicks off. The team which can do that would most likely win. If both teams manage to achieve this, then we would most likely have a great game on our hands.

The Afcon is all but over but these teams. This is their last shot at redemption.