The Germany U20 team have two mouth-watering home fixtures ahead of them in the next few days – the first against Italy and the second against England. Head coach Frank Kramer’s team will meet the “Squadra Azzurra” on Thursday 9th November in Chemnitz (KO 18:00 CET), before facing the current U20 World champions on Tuesday 14th November in Zwickau (KO 18:00 CET). Kramer has selected a squad of 23 players for the two games, eight of whom have featured in the Bundesliga this season.
Suat Serdar (Mainz 05) has had the most game time this season in the Bundesliga with six appearances, ahead of Salih Özcan (FC Köln, five appearances). Dzenis Burnic (VfB Stuttgart), Johannes Eggestein (Werder Bremen) and Felix Passlack (TSG Hoffenheim) have all featured three times in the German top flight this term. Jordan Torunarigha (Hertha BSC, two appearances), Aymen Barkok (Eintracht Frankfurt, one appearance) and Robin Hack (TSG Hoffenheim, one appearance) are the other Bundesliga players to have been selected for the squad.
“Italy great in defence, England the benchmark for youth teams”
“The anticipation for both of these internationals is huge, esoecially as we’re playing at home and we’re facing two top-class opponents,” says head coach Kramer. “At the same time, the boys will be gaining some valuable experience at the top level. Both matches are absolutely huge. Italy are great in defence and can soak up a lot of pressure. England have recently won the U20 World Cup as well as the U19 Euros Championship and the U17 World Cup and are currently the benchmark for international youth teams. The match against England will be a huge challenge for us.”
The squad
Goalkeepers: Constantin Frommann (SC Freiburg), Moritz Nicolas (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Markus Schubert (SG Dynamo Dresden)
Defenders: Maximilian Mittelstädt (Hertha BSC), Anderson Lucoqui (Fortuna Düsseldorf), Jorda Torunarigha (Hertha BSC), Julian Chabot (Sparta Rotterdam), Lukas Mühl (FC Nürnberg), Felix Passlack (TSG Hoffenheim), Frederic Ananou (Roda Kerkrade)
Midfielders/Forwards: Patrick Kammerbauer (1. FC Nürnberg), Dzenis Burnic (VfB Stuttgart), Görkem Saglam (VfL Bochum), Suat Serdar (Mainz 05), Salih Özcan (FC Köln), Sidney Friede (Hertha BSC), Aymen Barkok (Eintracht Frankfurt), Robin Hack (TSG Hoffenheim), David Raum (SpVgg Greuther Fürth), Steffen Tigges (VfL Osnabrück), Johannes Eggestein (Werder Bremen), Etienne Amenyido (VVV-Venlo), Christoph Daferner (SC Freiburg)
