The Unioner between Friendlies and Qualification Points

Union players involved in qualifying and friendly matches

Summer signing Ilyas Ansah made a perfect debut. In the friendly between Germany's and Albania's U21s, he scored a spectacular goal to give his side the lead just a few minutes after coming on as a substitute. Antonio di Salvo's side ultimately won 2-0. Also wearing the German colours were Aljoscha Kemlein, who captained the team in the first half, and Tom Rothe, who came on after the break. Together with Ansah, they celebrated a 5-0 victory over Latvia in the European Championship qualifiers a few days later. Kemlein played the entire match, while Rothe and Ansah came on as substitutes in the 71st minute.

Leopold Querfeld also had reason to celebrate, even though he wasn't on the pitch himself. Austria won both their World Cup qualifiers against Cyprus (1-0) and Bosnia-Herzegovina (2-1), collecting six points.

András Schäfer was unable to play due to illness. Without the midfielder, Hungary conceded a late equaliser in their 2-2 draw against Ireland in Group F before narrowly losing 3-2 to this year's UEFA Nations League winners Portugal.

Alex Král watched the 2-0 win for Czechia against Montenegro in the World Cup qualifier from the bench, but was in the starting line-up for the friendly against Saudi Arabia and played the whole game. However, his team conceded an injury time equaliser to make it 1-1.

Josip Juranović was also nominated for Croatia but took a break due to a minor knock. His experience was still needed in the squad, however, and with success. The ‘Kockasti’ took the lead in their qualifying group with two wins against the Faroe Islands (1-0) and Montenegro (4-0).

Derrick Köhn is still waiting for his senior international debut for Ghana. The left-back was included in coach Otto Addo's squad but did not feature in the 1-1 draw with Chad or the 1-0 win over Mali in the African World Cup qualifiers. Nevertheless, the Black Stars maintained their lead at the top of their group.