World Cup qualifiers: Darko Churlinov’s North Macedonia to face Germany

Darko Churlinov is in the North Macedonia squad for their World Cup qualifiers against Liechtenstein in Vaduz on Friday 8th October before and against Germany in Skopje on Monday 11th October. Last time the two sides played, North Macedonia pulled off a shock 2-1 win in Duisberg.

Victor Pálsson’s Iceland are also in the same World Cup qualifying group as North Macedonia and Germany, and they are playing crucial matches against Armenia on Friday 8th October and Liechtenstein on Monday 11th October, with both games taking place in Reykjavik.

Germany are currently top of Group J on 15 points ahead of Armenia (11), Romania (ten), North Macedonia (nine), Iceland (four), and Liechtenstein (one). Each group winner advances directly to the finals, and the group-runners up must take part in a play-off.

Tough challenges ahead for Japan

Ko Itakura is also heading off for important international fixtures as Japan face Saudi Arabia in Jeddah on Thursday 7th October and then Australia in Saitama on the following Tuesday 12th October. In this deciding round of World Cup qualification, Japan have only picked up three points from a possible six and sit in third place in qualifying group B. They will play a total of ten qualifying matches with the group winner and runner-up heading straight to Qatar, whilst the third-placed team in the group have to go through a play-off if they wish to make it to the final tournament.

Yaroslav Mikhailov is taking part in a friendly tournament with Russia U19s in Zagreb. His team play hosts Croatia (Wednesday 6th October), Bulgaria (Saturday 9th October) and finally Switzerland (Tuesday 12th October).

Thiaw and Aydin to feature for Germany’s youth teams

Malick Thiaw and Mehmet Can Aydin have been called up for Germany national youth teams. Thiaw is a part of the Germany U21 squad who play two European Championship qualifying matches against Israel in Paderborn on Thursday 7th October and against Hungary in Szeged on Tuesday 12th October. Germany U21s lead Group B after winning their opening two fixtures.

Aydin has been selected for Germany U20s for their friendly matches against Poland in Rzeszow on Thursday 10th October and against Romania in Potsdam on Monday 11th October.