The football week: transfer closing, international matches, European Championship qualification

After the end of the unusual transfer period in Corona times on Monday evening, the national football team comes into focus. For national coach Joachim Lw and his selection there are three games this week, two of them in the Nations League.

In addition, Lw gets a little more clarity about the last opponent in the preliminary round at the EM in the coming year. The young German footballers are also challenged, and on Sunday the duel in the Nations League between world champions France and European champions Portugal is on.

TRANSFER CLOSURE: On Monday, a transfer period marked by the corona pandemic ends, in which many clubs were forced to save. Before the window in Germany closes at 6 p.m., a few more transfers could take place. Record champions Bayern Munich, in particular, should strengthen their thin squad. One of the talks is medium-sized Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting. He is said to be a replacement for Torgarant Robert Lewandowski. Young player Joshua Zirkzee recently took on this role. That should in turn be awarded. There were also rumors that Munich was interested in Andrej Kramaric, who towered over Hoffenheim with six goals in three games for 1899. The future of Mario Gtze is unclear. The World Cup final scorer was discussed at Bayern and Hertha BSC. He is currently without a club and could still be picked up after the transfer deadline.

LW TEAM IN A PACK OF THREE: Three international matches in seven days. This is not to the taste of national coach Joachim Lw, who would rather have more training time than competition stress. That is why he brought in a large squad and gave eight highly stressed professionals around captain Manuel Neuer and Toni Kroos a break in the test against Turkey on Wednesday. They should be fit for the Nations League games in Ukraine on Saturday and three days later against Switzerland. Because: The first victory in the competition should definitely be here. The international game time makes the corona crisis more complicated. The DFB team moves in the so-called bubble. An officially ordered quarantine after the return from Kiev is not pending.

EM QUALIFICATION: The German national team will get a little more information this week about their last preliminary round opponent at the European Championship, which has been postponed to 2021. Portugal and France have already been determined, the last opponent for the group stage in Munich will be determined in the qualifying playoffs. There are still seven options for this. The opponent comes from the playoff path A or D, the semi-finals will be contested on Thursday. Romania is the only one of the eight teams excluded. However, there will only be final clarity in the upcoming international match window when the playoff finals take place in November.

NATIONS LEAGUE: On the third day of the Nations League on Sunday in Paris, France and Portugal will meet world and European champions. The new edition of the 2016 European Championship finals is about leading the table in Group 3 of League A: The teams around the stars Kylian Mbapp and Cristiano Ronaldo each won their first two games against Sweden and Croatia. In the top game of Group 2 in League A, England can take revenge against Belgium for the 2-0 defeat in the game for third place at the 2018 World Cup. The Belgians come to Wembley on Sunday with a series of twelve wins in a row. In England, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who made a dream start for Everton with six goals in four Premier League games, could make his competitive debut. Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho is also in the squad. Also on Sunday, the Poles for Europe’s Footballer of the Year, Robert Lewandowski, received Italy for the top game in Group 1 of League A.

U21: For the next generation of coach Stefan Kuntz, the upcoming international double pack is about the last chance to win the EM ticket. From the two qualifying games against Moldova on Friday (6.15 p.m.) and four days later in Frth against Bosnia-Herzegovina (6.15 p.m.), the DFB-Elf need six points. After two defeats against Belgium, the German selection is only in second place in their qualifying group for the tournament next year. The nine group winners and the five best runners-up will take part in the 2021 finals in Hungary and Slovenia.

dpa-infocom, dpa: 201005-99-826584 / 2

–

• dpa

• Andrej Kramaric

• National coach

• Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro

• German national football team

• German national teams

• German Football Association

• European champion

• European championships

• FC Bayern Mnchen

• FC Everton

• National football teams

• Hertha BSC

• Jadon Sancho

• Joachim Lw

• Joshua Zirkzee

• Manuel Neuer

• Mario Gtze

• Nations League

• Robert Lewandowski

• Stefan Kuntz

• TSG Hoffenheim

• Toni Kroos

• World championships

–

–

–