International break! 13 players are travelling with their respective countries during this two week break; a record for the Green-Whites. Aron Jóhannsson unfortunately misses out due to an Achilles problem, despite having been selected for the US national team.
The forward was chosen for the first time for 16 months, having made his last appearance in September 2015. “Before the game against Köln he had a problem with his Achilles. On Saturday he received another knock when we were in Augsburg, which made the pain worse, so we came to the decision together with the US national team that he would stay in Bremen to recover, instead of being a part of the squad to face Paraguay. It’s a massive disappointment for Aron, especially considering he was chosen for the first time in a while,” said Werder’s head coach Florian Kohfeldt.
Other players on the road include Thomas Delaney with Denmark and Ludwig Augustinsson with Sweden. Both will play against Chile who travel to Europe for their friendlies, making stops in Aalborg and Solna. Delaney will play his second game against Panama, with Augustinsson’s second coming against Romania.
While Delaney and Augustinsson have been regulars in their respective national teams, Milos Veljkovic is fairly new on the scene. The Serbian national player, despite missing the game against Augsburg, will have two chances to make his mark ahead of the World Cup. Milos will play with Serbia for their matches against Morocco and Nigeria.
Josh Sargent will be part of the America U20s squad for their fixtures against France in Alicante and Atlético Madrid U21s in Madrid.
Florian Kainz will represent Austria for their friendlies against Slovenia and Luxembourg. Meanwhile, teammate Milot Rashica, who already has eleven international caps under his belt, has been selected as part of the squad for Kosovo’s games against Madagascar and Burkina Faso.
Three Werder players could find themselves in a single match in the China Cup, as, depending on the way the draw works out, the Czech Republic may play China, in which case Czech players Jiri Pavlenka and Theodor Gebre Selassie would play against Yuning Zhang. The Czech Republic will play Uruguay as one of the semi-finals with China meeting Wales in the other. If all works out therefore, we will see Jiri and Theo line up against Yuning in the final.
The Eggestein brothers also celebrate their inclusion as part of the Germany youth squads. Maxi Eggestein will meet up with the U21s, where they will play first in Israel before travelling to Kosovo. Johannes on the other hand, has been selected for the U20s squad for their two friendlies against Portugal and Poland. Marco Friedl and the Austria U21s will not have to travel far for their two matches, playing first against Denmark and then at home against Macedonia.
Luca Plogmann is another player joining up with the Germany youth teams. He will play as part of the Germany U18s for their two matches against France. He will be joined there by Jean-Manuel Mbom, Pascal Hackethal and David Lennart Philipp from the Werder Academy.
