Under Coelho, Tunisia qualified for the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations and the World Cup qualifiers started well with a win over Kenya and Mozambique and a tie-up with Nigeria in the last minute in Abuja Stadium in front of 60,000. It took only one point to qualify before the 83rd minute defeat in Mozambique to leave the place for Nigeria, Coelho was sacked immediately and coach Faouzi Benzarti was hired to oversee the team at the 2010 African Cup; he too was sacked after Tunisia were eliminated from the group stage, drawing all three of their matches against Gabon, Cameroon, and Zambia finishing in the bottom of the group.