Tunisia will be looking for a lot more discipline in their approach as they take on Zambia in their second game in Group B in Ebibeyin, the tiny town on the Equatorial Guinea border with both Gabon and Cameroon.
The north Africans, considered among the strong candidates for the Africa Cup of Nations title after an unbeaten run in the qualifiers, let slip a lead against the Cape Verde Islands in their opening game and, like Zambia, take a single point into Thursday's match, which is expected again to be played before a full house.
The result was not to liking of their experienced Belgian-born coach, George Leekens. "I was not satisfied with the point in this tie. The team did not display its normal rhythm. We conceded spaces to the Cape Verde, who created more of the scoring opportunities.
"But then we still got the lead and could have won. But the experience will harden the players. The match against Zambia will be different given the quality of the new team from southern Africa. The chances of all four teams is still very equal."
Leekens will likely stick with the same starting XI, which included debutant Mohamed Ali Moncer, who scored their goal and got lavish praise from the coach afterwards.
Zambia, however, are forced to make changes after a knee injury picked up by key midfielder Nathan Sinkala means he is no longer able to continue in the tournament.
It is a big blow to their plans as he is one of the players left over from the side that won the Nations Cup in 2012.
There is also concern over striker Ronald Kampamba, who made little impact in the 1-1 draw with the Democratic Republic of Congo but is still considered a potential match winner. He picked up a slight knock in that game.
Zambia scored an early goal in the game against the Congolese but were ultimately overshadowed in a match that ended 1-1.
"Our mentality will determine how we will face them. If we go with a positive mentality and good character, I think we will get a good result," said Zambia skipper Rainford Kalaba on the eve of the match.
"We just need to apply ourselves 100 percent and am sure we will get the positive result on Thursday."
