AFCON 2023 Q: Tunisia finish off Botswana in dead rubber game

The Carthage Eagles of Tunisia secured a 3-0 win over Botswana in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualification Group J match at the Stade Hammadi Agrebi on Thursday night.

The victory saw the 2004 AFCON winners wrap up a successful qualifying campaign with an emphatic win and they also finished at the top of the Group J standings.

Botswana, on the other hand, finished third on the Group J standings having failed to qualify for the 2023 Afcon finals which will be hosted by Ivory Coast early next year.

The Zebras were under siege from the first whistle with Carthage Eagles determined to break the deadlock, but Thatayaone Ditlhokwe and his defence were able to contain the hosts, and the score was 0-0 halftime.

However, the Carthage Eagles upped the tempo after the restart and they managed to open the scoring on the hour-mark as Alford Velaphi netted an unfortunate on-goal to hand Tunisia a 1-0 lead.

The goal rattled the Botswana defence and they conceded again with eight minutes left as substitute Youssef Msakni beat goalkeeper Goitseone Phoko to make it 2-0 to Tunisia with Ali El Abdi providing the assist.

Msakni was hungry for goals and the 32-year-old forward grabbed his brace in stoppage time after being set-up by Mohamed Ali Ben Romdhane – sealing Tunisia’s emphatic 3-0 win over Botswana in the process.