Three wins for Schalke players on international duty

Big win for Thiaw and Germany U21s

Germany U21s recorded a fourth win from four games in their EURO qualification campaign. Antonio Di Salvo’s team comfortably ran out 5-1 winners in Szeged against Hungary. Schalke’s Malick Thiaw started the game, coming off in the 71st minute.

The goals were scored by Kevin Schade (5’, 90’), Malik Tillman (32’), Erik Shuranov (53’) and Tom Krauß (66’), while Tamas Kiss was responsible for Hungary’s solitary goal (39’).

Germany lead Group B with 12 points ahead of Israel (9), Poland (7), Hungary (4), Latvia (3) and San Marino (0). Their next matches are both at home in November’s international break against Poland (12/11) and San Marino (16/11).

Important victory for Japan – Itakura didn’t feature

Japan picked up an important three points in their World Cup qualification campaign, beating Australia 2-1 in Saitama. Fortuna Düsseldorf’s Ao Tanaka gave them the lead after just eight minutes, however Ajdin Hrustic of Eintracht Frankfurt levelled proceedings with a free-kick (69’). Five minutes before the end though, an Aziz Behichs own goal gave the home team the win. Ko Itakura didn’t feature for his country, just like in the defeat to Saudi Arabia last week.

Thanks to this result, Japan now have six points from four games, which puts them fourth in Group B. Only the group winners and runners-up will qualify directly for Qatar, with the two third-placed teams then facing off to earn a spot in the inter-confederation play-offs.

Mikhailov and Russia sign off with a win

Yaroslav Mikhailov and Russia U19s ended their friendly tournament in Zagreb on a positive note. The S04 midfielder started in a 4-1 win against Switzerland, playing 83 minutes.

They had previously drawn 3-3 against Croatia on Wednesday (6/10) and beaten Bulgaria 2-0 on Saturday (9/10).