Tunisia’s head coach Mondher Kebaier, influential forward Wahbi Khazri and 11 other players of the Carthage Eagles will not be part of the team to face Nigeria in Sunday’s round-of -6 clash at the Roumde Adjia stadium in Garoua as they have all tested positive for Coronavirus.
Kebaier was absent during the pre-match press conference on Saturday at the media centre of the Roumdje Adjia Stadium, Garoua. Jalal Al-Qadri, the Tunisia’s assistant coach, addressed journalists during the press conference.
Meanwhile goalkeeper Farouk Ben Mustapha is suspended from the game.
The other eleven players confirmed to be unavailable for the game are Aissa Laidouni, Dylan Bronn, Ghaylène Chaalali, Ellyes Skhiri, Anis Ben Slimane, Mohamed Romdhane, Ali Maâloul, Ben Hmida, Aymen Dahmen Yoann Touzgha and Issam Jebali.
Tunisia qualified for the round of 16 after finishing as one of the four best losers in the group stage.
They won their second game of the tournament 4-0 against Mauritania but lost their remaining two matches albeit the first defeat, a 1-0 loss to Mali, was marred by controversial refereeing decisions.
The Carthage Eagles last met the Nigerian side during the third-place game at the 2019 AFCON in Cairo, Egypt which the Eagles won.
Izuchukwu OkosiIzuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.