15 Berliners representing their countries

Berlin – 15 Berliners are away with their national teams in November – more than from any other Bundesliga club. Friendlies are on the agenda for most of these, but a couple face decisive World Cup qualifiers.

All or nothing for Leckie and Kalou

Mathew Leckie and Salomon Kalou face two final games in their bid to reach the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Leckie and Australia play Honduras in their play-off. Leckie is suspended for the first game on November 10th, but will return for the second leg on November 15th.

African World Cup qualifying is still going. Salomon Kalou and Ivory Coast haven’t yet booked their place at the 2018 competition. Only the top team in each group qualify and Ivory Coast currently lie in second and must beat top-of-the-table Morocco on November 11th.

Top-quality friendlies

The World Cup fate of the other Blue-Whites on international duty has already been determined. Marvin Plattenhardt is back in with Germany, who achieved a perfect qualification record with ten wins from ten. In top-quality friendlies, the DFB face England on November 11th and France on the following Tuesday (14.11). Genki Haraguchi and Japan have also already booked their World Cup ticket. Japan are playing Brazil (10.11) and Belgium (14.11) in their two friendlies.

Two Berliners will face off when Norway play Slovakia. The Norwegian Rune Jarstein will line up against his club compatriots, Peter Pekarik and Ondrej Duda. Norway’s first game is against Macedonia, Macedonia’s against Ukraine in Lviv, where Hertha recently competed in the Europa League. All three Hertha players are missing out on the World Cup. Karim Rekik and the Netherlands didn’t qualify either. Rekik will be hoping for caps number four and five when the Netherlands play Scotland (11.11) and Romania (14.11). Valentino Lazaro’s Austria are now being managed by Franco Foda. They play Uruguay on November 11th.  

Torunarigha with the U21s

Jordan Torunarigha has been called up for Germany U21s after his strong performances for the U21s at club level. Germany U21s are playing against Azerbaijan and Israel in their European Championship qualifiers. For the DFB U20s and Maximilian Mittelstädt and Sidney Friede, there are two friendlies on the agenda, against Italy and England. Arne Maier, Florian Baak and Palko Dardai are travelling to Cyprus for the U19s training camp.