ANKARA
The Turkish national football team has been promoted to the UEFA Nations B League despite a 3-3 draw with underdogs Luxembourg at home Thursday.
Luxembourg’s Marvin Martins scored the opener in the eighth minute. After a long ball, Martins took advantage of mistakes by Turkish defender Eren Elmali and goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir.
Martins scored with a low strike. Turkish defender Caglar Soyuncu slid into the goalpost and received treatment for a while.
Eight minutes later, Türkiye leveled as Cengiz Under scored from a penalty after his teammate Kerem Akturkoglu was fouled in the area.
Luxembourg took the lead once again as midfielder Danel Sinani scored on a quick counterattack in the 37th minute.
Maxime Chanot, a Luxembourger defender, scored an own goal after Under’s cross in the 39th minute.
The first half ended 2-2 at Istanbul’s Basaksehir Fatih Terim Stadium.
Following Florian Bohnert’s low pass, Gerson Rodrigues finished in the box to make it 3-2 for Luxembourg in the 69th minute.
Türkiye took risks for an equalizer.
Turkish midfielder Ismail Yuksek scored a classy goal outside the area to equalize in the 87th minute. He scored on his debut.
The match ended 3-3 in Istanbul.
But Türkiye clinched a spot in the B League as they won League C – Group 1 with 13 points.
Still undefeated, the Turkish team scored 17 goals but conceded three goals in this phase.
Second-place Luxembourg have eight points in five matches.
Faroe Islands bagged five points, and Lithuania racked up a point in this group.
Türkiye will visit Faroe Islands on Sunday to end the League C – Group 1 in Torshavn.
Thursday’s results in Nations League:
Kazakhstan – Belarus: 2-1
Latvia – Moldova: 1-2
France – Austria: 2-0
Belgium – Wales: 2-1
Poland – the Netherlands: 0-2
Croatia – Denmark: 2-1
Slovakia – Azerbaijan: 1-2
Türkiye – Luxembourg: 3-3
Lithuania – Faroe Islands: 1-1
Liechtenstein – Andorra: 0-2
