Do or die for Taifa Stars

RABAT: AS the group stage of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations reaches its decisive finale, Tanzania and Tunisia face a must-win showdown in their final Group C encounter at Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat this evening.

Kick-off is scheduled for 17:00 local time (16:00 GMT), with a coveted place in the Round of 16 hanging in the balance.

Tanzania’s Taifa Stars enter the contest buoyed yet frustrated after a 1-1 draw with Uganda, while Tunisia’s Carthage Eagles are eager to rebound from a dramatic 3-2 defeat to Nigeria.

With both sides fully aware that only victory guarantees progression, the stakes could not be higher.

Heading into the final matchday, Tunisia sits on three points, with Tanzania on one.

A win for either side will secure qualification to the knockout phase, while anything less could prove costly.

Nigeria have already sealed their Round of 16 berth and will finish as group winners regardless of their result against Uganda.

For Tanzania, today’s encounter represents a historic opportunity. A victory over Tunisia would mark the Taifa Stars’ firstever progression beyond the AFCON group stage.

Under head coach Miguel Gamondi, Tanzania have kept their campaign alive following a narrow 2-1 defeat to Nigeria and the draw against Uganda, but the margin for error is now nonexistent.

Still in search of their maiden AFCON victory after 11 matches, the Stars are determined to shed that unwanted record.

Encouragingly, they have lost just once in their last four AFCON outings and have scored in both matches in Morocco, an achievement last recorded during their opening two games at the 1980 finals.

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Much of Tanzania’s hope rests on the experience and inspiration of Simon Msuva.

His penalty against Uganda was historic, becoming Tanzania’s first-ever spotkick goal at AFCON and cementing his status as the nation’s leading scorer at the tournament.

Msuva has now scored in three different AFCON editions and could join Thuwein Waziri as the only Tanzanian to net more than once at a single final if he finds the back of the net again.

Standing firmly in their path are Tunisia, a nation for whom knockout qualification is often expected, but whose elimination would be deeply unsettling.

The Carthage Eagles began their campaign with a convincing 3-1 win over Uganda before falling narrowly to Nigeria in a high-scoring contest.

Despite that setback, Tunisia have been clinical in attack, scoring five goals from just eight shots on target and boasting a tournament-leading conversion rate of 26 percent, evidence of their efficiency in front of goal.

This will be the first meeting between Tanzania and Tunisia at the AFCON finals, though their recent history is familiar.

During the 2020 qualifiers, Tunisia claimed a 1-0 home win before a 1-1 draw in Dar es Salaam, results that sent the North Africans through at Tanzania’s expense.

Now, the narrative has shifted. For Tunisia, victory would secure a 15th appearance in the knockout rounds and avert the prospect of consecutive group-stage exits.

For Tanzania, it would be a landmark achievement, a long-awaited breakthrough and a powerful statement of their growing stature on the continental stage.

Elsewhere in Group C, Nigeria face Uganda in their final match, though the Super Eagles’ top spot is already assured.