Mixed feelings for Foals in international action
It was a night of mixed feelings for Borussia’s national players. Matthias Ginter, Florian Neuhaus and Marcus Thuram celebrated important wins in the Nations League with Germany and France. Switzerland had to settle for a draw after Spain scored late to make it 1-1; Yann Sommer saved two penalties.
Matthias Ginter started for Germany in their 3-1 win against Ukraine in Leipzig. Florian Neuhaus was on the bench and didn’t make an appearance. Timo Werner scored a brace with Leroy Sané getting the other goal after Ukraine had taken an early lead through Roman Yaremchuk (11’). Ginter was involved in the goal that made it 3-1, passing the ball from the right to Werner in the centre whose deflected effort went in. That win puts Germany top of the table on nine points ahead of Spain with eight, who are second after a 1-1 draw with Switzerland.
The other match in Group 4 of League A saw Yann Sommer, Breel Embolo and Nico Elvedi take on Spain with Switzerland. Remo Freuler gave the Swiss the lead after brilliant work by Embolo (26’), but Spain upped the ante and won a penalty in the 57th minute after a handball. Sergio Ramos stepped up, but Sommer went the right way and saved his shot in the bottom left corner. William Collum pointed to the spot again with ten minutes to go in the match; Elvedi was adjudged to have fouled Alvaro Morata and was given his second yellow card of the game. Ramos took the penalty again, and Sommer saved it again to keep Switzerland in the lead. But then the equaliser came just before full time. Just one minute before the end, Gerard scored with a volley from short distance to make it 1-1. That leaves Switzerland bottom of the group with three points, whilst Spain fall behind Germany into second.
Marcus Thuram made his competitive debut for France in their 1-0 win against Portugal. He was introduced to the game in the 59th minute in place of Kingsley Coman. N’Golo Kanté had given the French the lead in the 53rd minute, and that remained the only goal of the game. With that win, France overtake Portugal (ten points) to go top of Group 3 of League A with 13 points. Sweden won the other game of the group 2-1 against Croatia, but they remain bottom of the group (three points), with Croatia third (three points).
Hannes Wolf and Austria U21s faced Turkey in EUROs qualifying on Friday night. Despite taking the lead through Kelvin Arase (36’), Turkey were able to turn the game around through two goals from Halil Dervişoğlu (64’, 81’). Wolf scored a late free-kick to make it 2-2 (90’), but it wasn’t enough for a point as Dervişoğlu completed his hat-trick in the 92nd minute to make it 3-2. Austria’s hopes of qualifying are now over. They’re second in the table on 15 points, behind England with 22.
