Tunisia booked their place in the final of the African Nations Cup here on Wednesday when a dramatic penalty shoot-out gave them victory over Nigeria after the sides had been locked at 1-1 after extra-time.
It was another chaotic, controversial night at the Rades Stadium which started with the wrong national anthem being played for the Nigerians and ended with the Super Eagles coach Christian Chukwu and skipper Jay Jay Okocha hastily abandoning a news conference after scuffles broke out between reporters and officials.
In Saturday's final, Tunisia will take on either Mali or Morocco who were playing their semi-final in Sousse and it will be their third final having finished runners-up in 1965 and 1996.
Tunisia won the shoot-out 5-3 with Nigeria's Osaze Odemwingie the unlucky man having his kick saved by Ali Boumnijel while skipper Khaled Badra, Silva dos Santos, Imed Mhedhebi, Selim Benachour and Karim Hagui, with the last kick, were all successful.
John Utaka, Joseph Yobo and Ifeanyi Udeze had scored for the Super Eagles who were denied a chance to reach a seventh final.
"The players know that it is the daily work that has got them this far," said Tunisia coach Roger Lemerre.
"I feel very sad for Nigeria but there can only be one winner. They won a penalty and we too. We won the shoot-out and that is the law of sport."
Tunisian midfielder Mehdi Nafti said that his side had luck on their side.
"We had some fortune. We didn't want to lose and we have done a lot of work on penalty shoot-outs, so we are all very happy."
Earlier Okocha and Badra had both converted second-half penalties in the 67th and 82nd minutes respectively to set up the dramatic finish to the game which Tunisia dominated for long periods.
But it was a bitter-sweet success for Badra who picked up a second yellow card which will rule him out of Saturday's final.
Lemerre sprung a surprise by leaving out Paris Saint Germain playmaker Selim Benachour, in favour of Adel Chadli, while Anis Ayari was ruled out with a shoulder injury.
His misfortune gave Jose Clayton a rare start. Nigeria fielded the same team that started the quarter-final win over Cameroon.
Even before a ball was kicked, there was controversy as the organisers played the wrong national anthem for the Nigerian team which, ironically, was still jeered by the 60,000 Tunisian crowd.
It wasn't until the 18th minute that the first clear chance presented itself and it fell to Tunisian top scorer Silva dos Santos who cut inside Yobo only to see his shot comfortably gathered by goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama.
Santos had another golden opportunity in the 40th minute when he got goalside of the labouring Yobo but could only snatch at his shot and hit it wide.
Tunisian skipper Badra was then booked for a foul on Nwankwo Kanu while Okocha too found himself in Benin referee Coffi Codija's book for a foul on Karim Hagui.
The second half began in bizarre circumstances when the organisers finally found the correct Nigerian national anthem and played it against another backdrop of catcalls and whistles.
But Nigeria silence the hosts when, in the 67th minute, Kanu sprinted into the area and was brought down by Hagui.
Okocha scored into Boumnijel's right hand corner but the referee ordered it to be retaken. Okocha held his nerve to find the net with his second attempt for his third goal of the tournament.
Tunisia were handed a lifeline ten minutes from time when Oluwaseyi Olofinjana brought down Jaziri and Badra stepped up to score from the spot to deservedly bring his side level.
Nigeria were rattled and Kanu, struggling with a thigh strain, was replaced by Pius Ikedia while Benachour was also introduced.
In extra-time Odemwingie brought out a good save from Boumnijel while John Utaka was also denied by the keeper as the match headed for the shoot-out.