International duty calling

For the second time this season, the Bundesliga will be on hold for an international break. Seven Herthaner have been called up for international duty in various competitions. Dedryck Boyata and Belgium will play France in the semi-finals of the UEFA Nations League. The other semi is between Italy and Spain.

Three Hertha players will be in World Cup qualification action as they hope to reach Qatar 2022 with their nations. Peter Pekarík’s Slovakia have fixtures in Russia and Croatia to prepare for, whilst Stevan Jovetić and Montenegro have matches against Gibraltar and Norway (who are without Rune Jarstein still). Those two countries are third and fourth in their groups respectively, so they cannot afford to fall further adrift of the qualification places. In Group I, Krzysztof Piątek and Poland are one point behind Albania and five behind England. Their two fixtures during October are against San Marino and Albania. Fredi Bobic commented: “He will hopefully get some match practice, which will help him.”

Aiming to reach the U21 EUROS – all-Hertha clash at U20s

Jurgen Ekkelenkamp has been named in the Netherlands’ U21s squad for their European qualifiers. Meanwhile, youngsters Christalino Atemona (Germany U20s) and Marcel Lotka (Poland U20s) could face off in a friendly. After that, Germany will play Romania, and Poland will travel to Norway.