Milos Veljkovic (Serbia), Thomas Delaney (Denmark) and Ludwig Augustinsson (Sweden) are all likely to be going to the World Cup in Russia next year with their countries. On Friday, the draw for the group stages of the competition took place in Moscow’s Kremlin.
As the end of their final training session before the Stuttgart game tomorrow drew to a close, the three Green-Whites were able to follow the draw which was taking place in Russia’s capital, Moscow. Ludwig Augustinsson and Sweden will face world champions Germany, Mexico and South Korea in Group F. Thomas Delaney and Denmark have been drawn in Group C against France - one of the tournament favourites, Australia and Peru – the homeland of Werder legend Claudio Pizarro who will be hoping to travel to Russia with his country. Milos Veljkovic, who was born in Basel, and Serbia will come up against record world champions Brazil, Costa Rica and Switzerland.
WERDER.DE spoke to the three internationals about their thoughts on the draw, the opponents and their chances.
Ludwig Augustinsson: “It is a funny draw, especially now that I play in the Bundesliga. Germany are always hard to beat at major tournaments. Despite this I am really happy about the group because it could’ve been much worse. South Korean and Mexico are two teams who we are probably on a par with. We have a great chance of progressing. I followed the draw from home with my girlfriend and I have to say I was a bit nervous. I spoke to Thomas and Milos a bit about it before training and we didn’t know who we’d get, because there were so many different possibilities. At our team dinner the draw is definitely going to be discussed a lot.”
Thomas Delaney: I am so excited for the World Cup, particularly the game against France. As a footballer you want to face the big teams so you can get as much experience as possible. With a bit of luck we can get a draw from that game. Apart from that, anything is possible. Three teams will be fighting for second place in the group. I think that we’re in a good position to advance. If Claudio is there with Peru, it would be a great story. I would love to see him on the pitch once again.”
Milos Veljkovic: “We are coming up against good teams but eversthing is possible. It is a dream to play against Brazil for any footballer and I hope we can get something from that game. The match against Switzerland is particularly special of course because I was born and grew up with. I also have lots of friends there who will be following the game.”
| Milos Veljkovic | Group E | Thomas Delaney | Group C | Ludwig Augustinsson | Group F |
| Brazil | France | Germany |
| Switzerland | Australia | Mexico |
| Costa Rica | Peru | Sweden |
| Serbia | Denmark | South Korea |
