BATTLE OF THE EAGLES: Egyptian ref to handle Nigeria, Tunisia tie

The Confederation of African Football has appointed renown Egyptian referee Gehad Grisha to take charge of Wednesday’s Africa Cup of Nations third-place match between Nigeria’s Super Eagles and the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia at the Al-Salam Stadium in Cairo, Egypt.

Grisha was in charge of two matches of the Super Eagles during the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign: the 2-1 defeat of Zambia in Ndola on October 2016 and the 4-0 defeat of Cameroon in Uyo on September 2017.

Nigeria, in her 18th appearance at the Cup of Nations, has made the semi-finals for the 15th time – a remarkable record of almost always getting to the business end of the championship. The country has failed to reach the semi-finals only thrice before: 1963 (debut, in Ghana), 1982 (Libya), 2008 (Ghana).

Of the 15 times, Nigeria has made the semi-finals, the Eagles have gone ahead to win the title three times, picked up the silver medals four times and won bronze medals seven times.

Nigeria has also never lost a third-place match at the Africa Cup of Nations, winning in Ethiopia in 1976 (against Guinea), Ghana in 1978 (against Tunisia), Senegal in 1992 (against Cameroon), Mali in 2002 (against Mali), Tunisia in 2004 (against Mali), Egypt in 2006 (against Senegal) and Angola in 2010 (against Algeria).

The silver medals have come from Cote d’Ivoire 1984 (after losing final to Cameroon); Morocco 1988 (after losing final to Cameroon); Algeria 1990 (after losing final to Algeria) and; Ghana/Nigeria 2000 (after losing final to Cameroon).

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Triumphs have come from Nigeria 1980 (after beating Algeria in final in Lagos); Tunisia 1994 (after beating Zambia in final in Tunis) and; South Africa 2013 (after beating Burkina Faso in Johannesburg).