Tunisia boss Sami Trabelsi on Sunday backed his players to recover from a nightmare 75 minutes against Nigeria during which they conceded three goals and rediscover their panache for the final Group C game on Tuesday against Tanzania.
The clash in Rabat could decide who advances to the last-16 knockout stages with Nigeria who beat Tunisia 3-2 on Saturday night at the Stade de Fes.
If Tanzania and Uganda were to overcome Tunisia and Nigeria respectively, the North Africans would end bottom of the group.
"Defeat hurts," Trabelsi admitted. "Yet there are positive aspects. The game shows that anyone can compete against any opponent at any time.
"The last match against Tanzania is important," he added Trabelsi. "We must stay focused and get points from it."
Tunisia's finest footballers were listless as Nigeria's dynamic midfielders and famed forward line ran rings around them.
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Victor Osimhen, exploiting a gap between the Tunisia defenders Montassar Talbi and Ali Abdi, headed in Ademola Lookman's cross from the left flank to open the scoring on the stroke of half-time.
Wilfred Ndidi, winning his 70th cap for his country, nodded in the second from Lookman's corner just after the restart and Osimhen turned from predator to provider to set up Lookman for the third.
"We didn't give the Nigerians excessive respect," said Trabelsi. "But we lost many duels, defensively and offensively.
"Later, we started winning them, especially offensively, and we played better and pressed the opponent. That’s when we created many chances and managed to compete despite a bad situation."
Tunisia entered the 2025 Cup of Nations among the favourites for the title following an impressive qualifying campaign for next year's World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
They won nine of their 10 World Cup qualfiers scoring 22 goals and conceding none.
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"We learn from every match," said Tunisia defender Dylan Bronn. "That’s why we’re always trying to improve and this defeat will help us progress.
"It's not a blow because we’re competitors. We know how to react to the defeat. There's another match coming up."
Fellow defender, Yan Valery, said the setback should not lead to a loss in confidence.
"We mustn’t start doubting or anything like that," insisted the 26-year-old who plays for the English second division side Sheffield Wednesday.
"We showed in the second-half that we’re a very good team and that we can play and hurt the opponent. Now we just need to do it for 90 minutes."
The top two from each of the six pools progress to the last-16 knockout stages of the 2'-team tournament.
The final takes place on 18 January at the Stade Prince Moulay Abdellah in Rabat.
