Botswana strike late to deny Tunisia victory in CAN 2027 qualifying

Tunisia were held to a second successive draw in the CAN 2027 qualifiers after Botswana fought back for a 2-2 result at the Hamadi Agrebi Stadium in Rades on Monday.

The result came on matchday two and marked another frustrating night at home for the Carthage Eagles, who had to settle for a share of the points despite twice taking the lead.

Botswana opened the scoring in the 38th minute when Mohamed Nasraoui inadvertently turned the ball into his own net following a mistake in the Tunisia defence.

The hosts responded quickly, restoring parity just five minutes later. Hazem Mastouri met the opportunity with a well-taken header to make it 1-1 before half-time.

Mastouri then completed the turnaround five minutes after the restart. The Tunisia forward reacted first to a favourable situation in the Botswana area in the 50th minute, scoring his second goal of the evening to put his side 2-1 ahead.

Tunisia were unable to protect their advantage, however. On the hour mark, Lebogang Ditsile exploited space behind the home defence and ran through to beat the goalkeeper, bringing Botswana level at 2-2.

The Carthage Eagles pressed for a decisive third goal during the closing stages and created several promising openings in front of their home supporters.

They could not find the finish required, though, and Botswana held on for a draw. Tunisia were therefore left with consecutive stalemates in their opening two matches of the CAN 2027 qualifying campaign.