Super agile goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama took Nigeria to the semi-finals of the 25th Africa Nations Cup after stopping four penalties in a nail-biting quarterfinal here Saturday against defending champions, the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia.

It was 1-1 at regulation and extra-time, and Eyeama who had earlier stopped a penalty in the first-half of the match was to halt three more during the shootout to end the game 7-6 in favour of the Super Eagles, who also lost two of their first five penalty kicks.

Obinna Nsofor had put Nigeria ahead in the 5th minute with a powerful drive which wrong-footed Tunisian goalkeeper Ali Boumnijel.

The first-half ended 1-0 in favour of the Nigerians who dominated and could have buried the game in the first stanza against the defending champions whose physical play badly interrupted proceedings.

On resumption, the Tunisians gained confidence and took the game to the Nigerians who lost concentration momentarily allowing Karim Hagui to draw level with a strong header in the 48th.

It was a ding-dung thereafter until referee Eddy Maillet from Seychelles sounded his whistle to end the 90 minutes of play.

The 30-minute extra-time was more business like, with the Nigerians again dominating but lacking the finishing punch.

The game then drifted into penalty shootout which ended 6-5 on a dramatic note with Eyeama stopping the final kick by Tunisian capital Riadh Bouazizi.

He and Boumnijel scored against each other, but stand-in captain Joseph Yobo and striker Yusuf Ayinla both missed for Nigeria, before Eyeama parried Bouazizi's kick to send the Nigerian bench into wild jubilation after a replay of the 2004 Nations Cup semi-final in Tunis, which the Tunisians won on penalties and went ahead to lift the continental trophy.

For Tuesday's semi-finals in the ongoing competition, Nigeria will take on winners of the Cameroon-Cote d'Ivoire quarterfinal being played later Saturday, while hosts Egypt will battle Senegal.