Nickname: Carthage Eagles
Previous Appearances: 17 (1962, 1963, 1965, 1978, 1982, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2015)
Best Finish: Champions (2004)
Who are they?
One of the continent’s powerhouses, the North Africans return for a 12th consecutive appearance. This makes it a bit of a surprise that they have only won it once, when they hosted in 2004. They have been runners-up twice, third once, fourth twice and made five quarterfinal appearances, including the last time Gabon hosted, in 2012. They have experienced mixed performances in recent years at Afcon, going on a run that has seen them fail to qualify for successive quarterfinal appearances since 2008.
Route to Qualification
The Carthage Eagles finished top of qualifying Group A, ahead of lightweights Togo, Liberia and Djibouti. That might go some way to explain their record of 16 goals scored and just three conceded. And they still look in fine fettle.
Definition of Success
The title. Since their 2004 triumph on home soil they have failed to progress beyond the quarterfinal stage and they will look to at least equal that record in Gabon, especially considering some major absentees.
Biggest rivals
Obviously their biggest rivals are Algeria. They both come in with the North African flavour, playing like-for-like football. They might as well cancel each other out in the group to pick up one of the two available tickets for qualification.
Top 3 players
Aymen Abdennour, Defender, Valencia
A full Tunisian international since 2009, the central defender possess great leadership and organisational skills at the back and he will be the one that goalkeeper and captain of the team Aymen Mathlouthi will look to communicate with to effectively shut-out opponents.
Anis Ben-Hatira, Midfielder, Darmstadt
German-born midfielder who decided to switch his international allegiance to Tunisia. Ben-Hatira is a goalscoring midfielder with a penchant for arriving late into the box and he will look to add to his solitary international goal at the tournament.
Hamdi Harbaoui, Forward, Anderlecht
Experienced forward who has played non-stop outside the shores of Tunisia since 2008. Since making his international debut in 2012 at the age of 27, he has featured at one Nations Cup andcwill eagerly look forward to his second tournament appearance.
Who brings the African league flavour?
Aymen Mathlouthi
Team captain and first-choice goalkeeper who plays for Etoile du Sahel in the Tunisian league. His impressive performances and experience in the CAF Champions League and CAF Confederations Cup should serve as a valuable guide at the tournament in Gabon.
How far will they go?
Tunisia have the squad and available talents to go all the way to the semifinals at the very least.
By Colin Udoh
@ColinUdoh on Twitter
