Tunisia fullback Yan Valery has admitted that the Carthage Eagles paid the price for showing Nigeria too much respect in their 3–2 defeat to the Super Eagles on Saturday, insisting his side must respond quickly in their final group game.
Nigeria sealed qualification to the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) round of 16 with a hard-fought victory courtesy of goals from Victor Osimhen, Wilfred Ndidi and Ademola Lookman. Tunisia mounted a late comeback through goals from Montassar Talbi and Ali Abdi, but their rally came too late to prevent their first loss in the tournament.
The result leaves Tunisia second in Group C with three points from two matches, while Nigeria sit top with six points and have already booked their place in the knockout stages.
Speaking after the match, Valery, the 26-year-old former Southampton defender, was frank in his assessment of Tunisia’s performance, particularly in the opening half.
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“We showed too much respect to Nigeria in the first half,” Valery told reporters. “We needed to be more aggressive, win more duels. We let them play a bit too much and get confident.”
Tunisia struggled to contain Nigeria’s intensity for most of the game and were punished by the Super Eagles’ attacking quality. Although the Carthage Eagles showed greater urgency in the late stages, Valery felt the damage had already been done.
“We were not aggressive enough in the first half, and then in the second half we showed that against any team, we can play and hurt them,” he said. “It’s not about one player. We have really good players in our team and they have played against big players as well.”
With qualification still well within reach, Valery believes Tunisia must channel their frustration into a strong response when they face Tanzania in their final group game on Tuesday.
“We know we can do better. We just need to show it,” he added. “We are frustrated about the result, now we can only react in the next game. We need to learn from our mistakes and quickly react.”
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