Gechter makes his debut, Dárdai on the verge of his

Linus Gechter and Anton Kade started for the Germany u19s on Wednesday evening in a 2-2 draw against Italy in the second qualifying round of the European Championship. This stage of the tournament is taking place in Finland and Hannes Wolf’s side have been drawn into ‘Group 5,’ along with Belgium, Italy and the hosts. The game against the Italians was Germany’s opening match of the tournament, and was a game in which our centre-half, Gechter, made his debut for the u19s. The defender played the full 90 minutes, whereas Kade was substituted just before the DFB juniors equalised in the 88th minute. “We started the game well and we dominated the first half. After about an hour we fell back a bit too much and we lost our control of the game. Luckily we managed to get back on level terms and get the 2-2 draw at the end,” explained Gechter, our number 44.

Belfodil's Algeria in World Cup showdown 

Algeria and Ishak Belfodil have two decisive matches on the horizon as they attempt to qualify for the 2022 World Cup. Our striker’s national team have a two-legged tie against Cameroon in the African qualifiers and only the winner will progress to Qatar. The first leg will take place on Friday 25th March (18:00 CET) in Cameroon. Our forward has not appeared for the 2019 AFCON champions for over 3 and a half years. Fredrik Bjørkan is in the Norway squad to face Slovakia in a friendly. Slovakia must do without Peter Pekarik, who declined his invitation to join the side. Both nations have missed out on World Cup qualification.

Márton Dárdai is in the German u21s squad to face Latvia on Friday evening (18:15 CET). Our centre-half will be hoping to make his debut for Antonio di Salvo’s team, which is currently top of Group B in the European Championship qualifiers. After the u21s clash against Latvia in Aachen, they will face second-placed Israel on Tuesday 29th March. Two wins would all but see Germany qualify. Jurgen Ekkelenkamp has been called up to the Netherlands u21s, a side that will also be hoping to qualify for next year’s European Championship. The Dutch are currently second in Group E behind Switzerland and are in action against Bulgaria on Friday 25th March (18:45 CET). Marcel Lokta is also away on international duty with the Poland u20s, who are due to face England in a friendly on Friday evening (20:00 CET).