Filip Milojevic was involved in EURO qualifying with Austria U19s against Kosovo (0-1), Slovenia (2-0) and Spain (1-2). The Leverkusen defender was an ever-present in all three matches but couldn't help his side to qualify for this summer's tournament.
Noah Pesch and Croatia U19s, meanwhile, took on Germany (2-1), Turkey (1-2) and Romania (0-1) in their group. Pesch also played every minute as the Croatian youngsters missed out on participation in the finals.
Arjanit Fazlija and Kosovo U19s came up against Milojevic's Austria (1-0), Spain (1-2) and Slovenia (0-2). Fazlija came off the bench in all three games having recently recovered from injury.
Switzerland had a place at the EURO in the bag after the first two qualifiers. Fit-again Isaiah Okafor didn't feature in the 1-0 win over Latvia but played the duration of the 2-0 victory against North Macedonia. However, in the third game against Ukraine, in which Okafar was substituted off in the 54th minute, the Nati youngsters lost 3-0 and also failed to qualify.
The German U17 side were involved in European qualifying, too. Coach Michael Prus included Leverkusen trio Naba Mensah, Montrell Culbreath and Francis Onyeka for the fixtures in Portugal. Onyeka played 90 minutes in the 3-3 draw against Croatia and put in an impressive display, setting up one goal and scoring the final one from a penalty. Culbreath entered the fray just after the hour mark and earned the aforementioned penalty, while Mensah watched from the bench.
That draw was followed by a 2-0 win over Republic of Ireland. Onyeka, who came off in added time, again set up one goal and scored another. Culbreath was on the pitch until the 65th minute, being replaced by Mensah.
Then a place in this summer's EURO was on the line in the match against Portugal - and the German U17s missed out after a 3-2 defeat to the hosts and Croatia's comfortable win over Ireland in the other game. Onyeka, who headed against the bar with the score at 1-1, played 84 minutes. Culbreath and Mensah also started and went off in the closing stages.
In the same competition, Kerim Alajbegovic with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Marton Szep with Hungary were battling for a place at the EURO - and they too failed to progress. Alajbegovic played every minute against Poland (1-4), Czech Republic (0-2) and Belarus (3-1), scoring a brace in the latter. Szep and Hungary, meanwhile, lost to France (1-2), England (0-5) and Northern Ireland (1-3). Having not featured in the first game, Szep went the distance against England and came off after around an hour against Northern Ireland.
Artem Stepanov and Ukraine U17s will be at this summer's finals in Cyprus, though, after coming out on top against Greece, Switzerland Slovakia in their qualifying group by an aggregate score of 8-0.
The DFB's U16 age group played two games against Italy in Pirmasens. In the first encounter, which Germany won 3-0, centre-back Ben Hawighorst impressed as captain, while Jeremiah Mensah was a second-half substitute. The second clash ended in an even more emphatic 5-0 victory. Hawighorst played the full match again and Mensah's work was done after an hour.
Construction work continues on the ‘Haus der Talente’ on Kurtekottenweg in Leverkusen, where 36 young elite athletes will find a new home from next summer. The building team from Temmink Bau, led by Thomas Wellers, are hard at work. Over the past few days, excavators, wheeled loaders and rollers have removed 2,500 cubic metres of soil to excavate the basement.
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Special events for a special match: Bayer 04 are offering fans a varied programme of events at tonight’s home game in the Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga against German champions Bayern Munich (kick-off: 18:00 CEST). Alongside a number of interactive activities, events to mark the DFB Sustainability matchday are also planned around the Ulrich Haberland Stadium. Read on in the matchday news ahead of the clash with FC Bayern.
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Following two close encounters against VfL Wolfsburg and away to TSG Hoffenheim, the Bayer 04 Women face another top side on Monday night. The Werkself host German double winners Bayern Munich at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium at 18:00 CEST to round off matchday 4 in the Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga. Head coach Roberto Pätzold is counting on another spirited performance from his team.
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30 shots on goal, 14 corners, 63 per cent possession: Bayer 04 clearly had the upper hand in their clash with league leaders FC Augsburg, but squandered the chance of a second win in three games due to a few minutes after the restart, “when we stopped playing football”, as managing director sport Simon Rolfes said after the game. The Werkself review of the 2–2 draw at FC Augsburg.
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