The Eagles of Carthage complete a three-team North African challenge for honours in Angola but are very much regarded as the third-rated of the trio.

Their squad is, unusually for this tournament, predominantly domestic, with 16 Tunisian players in the 23-man squad. They also possess a Tunisian coach, Faouzi Benzartis, who turned 60 on the Sunday before the tournament and was himself a Tunisia international.

Benzartis was coach of top club side Esperance, who have four players in the ACN squad. He took over from Portuguese incumbent Humberto Coelho, whose goose was cooked in the November heat which he blamed for Tunisia’s unexpected 1-0 defeat in Mozambique. They conceded with seven minutes remaining, which cost them a place in the World Cup finals when Nigeria squeaked past Kenya with nine minutes remaining.

Since winning their first-ever African Nations Cup, in 2004 on home soil, Tunisia have exited at the quarter-final stages, coming from two goals down to Cameroon in a classic 2008 match before losing 3-2 after extra-time. And the smart money is on them doing exactly that in Angola.

Late withdrawals meant that the 23-man squad virtually picked itself from the provisional list originally selected. Striker Youssef Mouhibi was laid low by a thigh injury. Meanwhile, Fahid Ben Khallfalah, a midfielder from Ligue 1 outfit Valenciennes, simply refused Benzartis’ call-up to the squad. No public explanation of his reluctance has yet emerged.

Thirteen of the squad come from three Tunisian clubs, the afore-mentioned four from Esperance, four from Club Africain and five from Etoile du Sahel, African Champions League winners in 2007. Tunisia will need to draw on that team spirit if they come up against the continents big guns later in the tournament.