Tunisia, Turkey draw in friendly

Turkey and Tunisia battled to a 2-2 draw in an international friendly as the North African side continue their preparations for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, where they are drawn in Group G along with Belgium, England and Panama.

After a scoreless first half in front of roughly 12,000 fans at the Stade de Geneve here on Friday evening, Everton's Cenk Tosun put Turkey up 1-0 with a goal in the 54th minute from the penalty spot after drawing a foul from Tunisia midfielder Ellyes Shkiri, reports EFE news agency.

Anice Badri brought Tunisia level two minutes later with a half-volley from distance.

The match took a bizarre turn just before the hour mark, when Tosun, seeing a flare land near where his father and uncle were seated in the stands, walked toward the crowd, shouting and gesturing at unruly fans to pick up a straight red card to leave his team a man down with 30 minutes left to play.

Despite the man advantage, the Tunisians remained less than convincing on the attack and the second goal came only in the 79th minute, courtesy of team captain Ferjana Sassi. while a poor defensive clearance in stoppage time allowed Caglar Söyüncü to score a late equalizer for the Turks.

Tunisia will face Spain, one of the favorites to win the 2018 World Cup, on June 9 in the final friendly for both teams before heading to Russia.

The North African squad's World Cup opener is a June 18 clash with England in Volgograd.

--IANS

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