Tunisia became the top 10-seeded nation after Algeria to crash out of the group stages of the Africa Cup of Nations following a scoreless draw against South Africa on Wednesday night.
The Carthage Eagles quest to humiliate South Africa was squashed as Bafana Bafana paraded a strong starting line-up, which had eight players from Mamelodi Sundowns, the dominant domestic club.
The early stages of the first half was full of intensity with Tunisia having enough possession, but not putting it into good utilization in the 36 degrees Celsius heat of Northern Ivory Coast.
After the end of the first half, Tunisia had five goal attempts, but none was on target. However, the start of the second half was delayed for several minutes so that the kickoff coincided with the other Group E match between Namibia and Mali in the southwestern coastal city of San Pedro.
As the final stages approached, experienced Carthage Eagles cog - Msakni climbed off the bench to replace Ben Slimane and won his 100th cap for Tunisia.
Msakni became the fourth player after Ghana’s Andre Dede Ayew, Egyptian Ahmed Hassan and Cameroonian Rigobert Song to feature in eight Cup of Nations tournaments.
By: Pascal Amoah
