There are seven foals in action with their national teams over the next few days, in friendlies and qualification games. Yann Sommer, Nico Elvedi and Denis Zakaria (Switzerland) along with Jonas Hofmann and Florian Neuhaus (Germany) will be playing for new head coaches.
Switzerland
Three Borussia players are in the squad for Switzerland’s first games under new coach Murat Yakin. Yann Sommer (Photo: imago images / Witters), Nico Elvedi and Denis Zakaria will face Greece in a friendly in Basel on Wednesday (20:45 CEST). On Sunday evening (20:45 CEST, in Basel) the Swiss take on European champions Italy in World Cup qualification group C, before playing Northern Ireland on Wednesday (20:45, in Belfast). Breel Embolo, who had initially travelled to meet the new coach and was with the team for two days, will be back in Mönchengladbach to keep working on his return to action. Switzerland are three points behind Italy in second place in the group, but have played one game fewer.
Germany
Meanwhile, Hansi Flick will take charge of Germany for the first time. Their first game under the former Bayern manager will be against Liechtenstein in St. Gallen this Thursday (20:45 CEST). Jonas Hofmann and Florian Neuhaus will be in the squad for this fixture, along with two other WCQ matches against Armenia (Sunday, 5th September, 20:45 CEST) and Iceland (Wednesday, 8th September, 20:45). After three games played, Germany sit third in Group J with six points.
Algeria
Ramy Bensebaini and the Algerian national team start on Thursday (21:00 CEST, in Blida) against Djibouti in the second phase of qualifying for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Borussia’s left-back is aiming to reach his first World Cup, with Algeria needing to top their group and then come through a playoff match. On Tuesday (21:00 CEST) they take on Burkina Faso in Marrakesh. Niger complete the line-up for Group A.
Ireland U21
Conor Noß and the Irish U21 squad start their qualification campaign for the European Under-21 Championship in Romania and Georgia against Bosnia and Herzegovina on Friday (16:30 CEST, in Zenica). Their second match in Group F takes place on Tuesday (16:00 CEST) in Düdelingen against Luxembourg. Their other opponents in the group will be Montenegro, Sweden and Italy.
