On Tuesday evening (20/6), several Werder players were in action with their national teams. Naby Keïta, however, celebrated qualification for the Africa Cup of Nations, which will be held in Ivory Coast from 13th January to 11th February 2024, without playing. After Ethiopia and Malawi played out a goalless draw, Guinea have secured their qualification. There were mixed feelings for the other Green-Whites in action.
Niclas Füllkrug was initially on the bench for the Germany national side in Gelsenkirchen as they took on Colombia. The attacker came on for Dortmund’s Emre Can in the 66th minute, quickly picking up a yellow card for a hard tackle on Daniel Munoz (74’). In the end, Germany lost 2-0 to the South Americans and have now gone without a win in four games.
Jiri Pavlenka and Romano Schmid had a better evening, despite remaining on the bench for their respective games. Pavlenka and the Czech Republic beat Montenegro 4-1 in a friendly match, while Schmid and Austria took a big step towards the 2024 European Championship with a 2-0 win over Sweden. For Ilia Gruev, who played the entire match for Bulgaria, it was a dramatic game: the underdogs were ahead until injury time against Serbia, but conceded an equaliser in the sixth additional minute, scored by Darko Lazovic, to leave the final score 1-1.
