FC International: Debuts, assists and captain
In total, nine 1. FC Köln players were on their travels with their respective national teams over the past 10 days. Two players made their debuts, three were able to help their teams to find the back of the net. Here is the summary:
Jonas Urbig, Jan Thielmann, Eric Martel and Tim Lemperle (Germany U21)
FC contributed the most players to the under-21s from all clubs. That was also a success, as all four helped the team to two impressive wins in qualifying as Germany push forward towards automatic qualification.
Against Israel last Wednesday, Eric Martel captained the side and was joined in the line-up by Jonas Urbig and Jan Thielmann. Tim Lemperle missed the game due to an infection but Germany were still able to win 4:1.
Six days later, Antonio di Salvo’s side were welcomed by their Estonian under-21 counterparts. Urbig, Martel and Thielmann were again involved from the start as Germany won 10:1. Martel scored the fourth in the 39thminute, with Jan Thielmann assisting Karim Adeyemi for the fifth. Tim Lemperle came on in the 64th minute and scored three minutes before the end of the game.
The under-21s are still unbeaten and top of their qualifying group.
Julian Pauli and Damion Downs (Germany U20)
Two academy talents were able to make their debuts for the Germany under-20s. Damion Downs and Julian Pauli were both brought on in the 3:2 win against Romania and were able to make their debut against Italy (3:0 victory) on Tuesday.
Mathias Olesen (Luxembourg)
Olesen took on Northern Ireland and Belarus during the international break. Unfortunately for the FC midfielder, both games didn’t go the way Luxembourg has hoped. Olesen started both matches, a 2:0 defeat to Northern Ireland and a 1:0 loss to Belarus.
Denis Huseinbasic (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Despite the 5:2 defeat to the Netherlands, Denis Huseinbasic was able to set-up the equaliser to make it 1:1. A tidy through ball allowed Stuttgart’s Ermedin Demirovic to score. After starting against the Netherlands, he came off the bench against Hungary in the 0:0 draw.
Leart Pacarada (Kosovo)
Pacarada featured in the first of Kosovo’s games during the international break. They fell to a 3:0 defeat against Romania as the left-back started the game. In the 4:0 win against Cyprus, he did not feature.