Tunisia head to Spain for friendlies

Tunisia coach Sami Trabelsi has named a 25-man squad for friendlies against Basque Country and Catalonia.

Karim Haggui, Ammar Jemal, Sami Allagui, and Houcine Ragued are missing from the list due to their clubs’ refusal to release them at this delicate juncture in their respective seasons.

The German-based players’ sides were concerned about the possibility of injury given the high number of games each of their Tunisian representatives have played without rest while Ragued’s Turkish team insists they need him for upcoming league matches.

One player benefitting from these absences is Club Africain centre-back Mohamed Ali Yaakoubi who has received his first call-up to the senior national team.

Returning to the group after an injury lay-off is starting goalkeeper Aymen Mathlouthi.

Tunisia will also play friendlies against Sudan on January 9 and Ivory Coast on January 13 during a training camp in Dubai.

The squad is: Goalkeepers: Farouk Ben Mustapha (CA Bizertin), Rami Jeridi (Stade Tunisien), Moez Ben Cherifia (Esperance), Aymen Mathlouthi (Etoile).

Defenders: Anis Boussaidi (FC Rostov), Mohamed Ali Yaakoubi (Club Africain), Fateh Gharbi (CS Sfaxien), Aymen Abdennour (Toulouse), Walid Hichri (Esperance), Bilel Ifa (Club Africain), Khalil Chammam (Esperance).

Midfielders: Adel Chedly (Etoile), Jamel Saihi (Montpellier), Iheb Msakni (Stade Tunisien), Khaled Korbi (Esperance), Wissem Ben Yahia (Mersin), Zouhaier Dhaouadi (Club Africain), Yassine Chikhaoui (Zurich), Oussama Darragi (Esperance), Majdi Traoui (Esperance), Youssef Msakni (Esperance).

Strikers: Lamjed Chehoudi (Etoile), Amine Chermiti (Zurich), Saber Khelifa (Evian), Issam Jemaa (Auxerre).