While the Bundesliga takes a break and the Bayer 04 pros left at home train as usual under the Bayer Cross, the nations have been battling for a place in next year's World Cup in Russia. We look at the second part of the international break from a Werkself perspective:
On Monday night, the Germany team under coach Joachim Löw continued their march through Group C. The group leaders, with a perfect record of wins to date, clocked up an impressive 6-0 victory against Norway. Julian Brandt, who earned his eleventh full cap three days ago in the 2-1 win against the Czech Republic with 60 minutes on the pitch, did not play against Norway as he joined Bernd Leno and Benjamin Henrichs on the subs' bench .
Switzerland are as good as through to the World Cup finals: With Admir Mehmedi in their ranks, the unblemished record of the Group B leaders was maintained with a 3-0 win for the second time in succession – the win against Andorra was followed this time by the same score away to Latvia. The Werkself striker played the full 90 minutes but did not find the back of the net.
The international fixtures have not been as successful for Julian Baumgartlinger, the captain of Austria. The 1-0 defeat in Wales on Saturday was followed by a 1-1 draw at home to Georgia on Tuesday night that almost certainly means their chance of making the World Cup finals has gone: Fourth in Group D, Austria are five points behind second spot with two games to play .
Vladlen Yurchenko and Bayer 04 new signing Panagiotis Retsos are still in with a shout of playing at the World Cup finals in Russia. However, Ukraine suffered a heavy blow on Tuesday night: Without Yurchenko, Ukraine lost 2-0 to Iceland in Group I and the Nordic team have now taken over their second place. A similar fate befell the home nation of Retsos. After his international debut on Thursday, the 19-year-old did not get on in the 2-1 defeat to Belgium on Sunday. Following the home defeat against the group leaders, Greece slipped from second to third in Group H.
Charles Aránguiz and Chile suffered a surprise 3-0 defeat to Paraguay on Friday. The 28-year-old picked up his fourth yellow card in the South America World Cup qualifiers that brought a one-match suspension. Aránguiz therefore left his national side early and was back training in Leverkusen on Tuesday.
The Germany U19s beat European Champions England 3-1 in a friendly on Tuesday. Bayer 04 youngster Kai Havertz picked up a booking in the first half and netted the final goal for Germany in added time at the end of the game. The two U19 players Atakan Akkaynak and Sam Schreck were on the sidelines against England.
The next international break is at the start of October 2017.
New signing Miguel Gutiérrez arrives in Leverkusen having won the Champions League, the Spanish league title and an Olympic gold medal. However, the 25-year-old Spaniard, signed from Napoli, is looking to the future – he wants to write the next chapter of success with the Werkself. Bayer04.de takes a closer look at the skilful, attack-minded left-back, who will wear the number 3 jersey.
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The Werkself's training camp in Weimarer Land all in one place: in our daily blog you'll find all the insights and updates from the day. Day three (Tuesday 4 August) begins with a thorough open session on the pitch. After lunch, some players have media engagements at the team hotel, and then the team come together for a barbecue in the evening.
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Nine matches against teams from nine countries, two penalty shoot-outs won, and encounters that went far beyond football: As with last year, the Inklusionswerkself enjoyed an extraordinary week at the Genuine Cup 2026 in Houston, USA, and made memories that will last a lifetime. This year, the Leverkusen side took part as Germany’s official representatives and, accordingly, took to the pitch in Germany kit. Together with 53 teams from 53 nations, the Black and Reds once again sent a powerful message of inclusion and participation – and also impressed on the pitch by winning their group.
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The Werkself training camp in the Weimarer Land all in one place: in our daily blog, you’ll find all the insights and updates from the day. The programme for day two (Monday, 3 August) centres on two training sessions – one in the morning (open to the public) and one in the early evening (behind closed doors) – at the nearby training grounds. In the afternoon, fans can look forward to a big fan meet-up with club legend Paulo Sergio at Schloss Blankenhain.
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