Niclas Füllkrug was the first Werder player in action for his national team on Monday evening (12/6), when Germany drew 3-3 with Ukraine in their 1,000th international game. Füllkrug and Germany will next come up against Poland in Warsaw on Friday evening (16/6) and continue their preparations for Euro 2024 on Tuesday (20/6) in Gelsenkirchen against Columbia. Three Green-Whites are battling for a ticket to the European Championship with their respective national teams in qualifiers.
After losing against Montenegro (1-0) and Hungary (3-0), Ilia Gruev and Bulgaria are desperate for a victory against Lithuania (17/6). “This is a good chance for us to make up for the defeats,” explained the 23-year-old, who will then come up against Serbia. “We expect a very good Serbia team and want to put in a good performance. We are definitely well prepared.”
This is despite the fact that many national players have been on holiday for almost two weeks after the end of club competitions. Gruev revealed that during this time he kept fit by spending time in the gym, running and in two training sessions. “You don’t lose that much in 14 days, either,” said the midfielder. “Mentally, it’s a bit more difficult because you have to be completely on it from one day to the next since qualifiers are coming up. But we have managed to do that.”
Romano Schmid, who will face Belgium (17/6) and Sweden (20/6) with Austria, and Jiri Pavlenka, who is coming up against the Faroe Islands (17/6) and Montenegro (20/6, friendly match) with the Czech Republic, are also going into their upcoming round of international fixtures in a similar situation. On Wednesday evening, Naby Keïta played in matchday five of the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Egypt in the Stade de Marrakech, which ended in a 2-1 defeat, delaying their qualification for the time being. On Saturday (17/6), Keïta and Guinea will play Brazil in a friendly match in Barcelona.
