Cologne –
After a free weekend, 1. FC Köln will start preparing for the away game at VfL Wolfsburg on Monday (Easter Saturday, 3:30 p.m.). It is questionable whether Emmanuel Dennis will then be part of the team again. The winter access injured his ankle in an internal test match on Thursday and had to be replaced before the half-time break. The next day the attacker stayed at the billy goat home for treatment. The sixteenth of the table in the Bundesliga did not want to give up an intermediate result. “On Monday we will look further,” it said on request.
Only Ondrej Duda is expected back in FC training at the beginning of the week of the six national players who have been sidelined. The Slovak national player only took part in the first of three World Cup qualifiers within six days, as agreed with his club. Duda played for 84 minutes in the 0-0 game in Cyprus. The FC director waived the home games against Malta (2-2) and on Tuesday against Russia in order not to endanger his involvement in the Bundesliga relegation battle. Slovakia was recently classified as a high incidence area by the federal government.
Meanwhile, Ellyes Skhiri and the selection of Tunisia completed the qualification for the Africa Cup after two victories as Group J winners. The Cologne midfielder contributed to the 1: 1 equalization for the 5: 2 success in Libya, which played an international match on home soil for the first time since the beginning of the second civil war in 2014. A 2-1 win against Equatorial Guinea followed on Sunday. Skhiri played through again.
Dimitris Limnios used the trip to the Greek national team to gain important match practice. The FC reservist was one of the starting eleven in the 1-1 draw in Spain and was used for one half. Before their second World Cup qualifier against Georgia on Wednesday, the Hellenes tested against Honduras (2-1) on Sunday. The Cologne winger was substituted on for the second round.
It was only on Tuesday that FC central defender Sava Cestic made his debut for the Serbian U21 national team with the test match in Turkey. At the same time, Ismail Jakobs and Salih Özcan want to make it through to the finals in the final group game of the U21 European Championship against Romania. In the 1-1 draw against the Netherlands on Saturday in Hungary, the two FC pros stood on the pitch for 78 minutes.
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