Football, German team: National coach Joachim Löw can again plan with Toni Kroos and Timo Werner in the Nations League games on Saturday in Kiev against host Ukraine and three days later in Cologne against Switzerland (both 8.45 p.m. / ARD). The two main forces belong to the 23 squad announced by Löw on Thursday. In contrast, the national coach Benjamin Henrichs, Nico Schulz, Niklas Stark, Nadiem Amiri and Mahmoud Dahoud deleted from his squad. All of them had played in the international match against Turkey (3: 3) on Wednesday. In addition to Kroos (injury to the left middle gluteal muscle) and Werner (infection), the Bayern stars around Manuel Neuer and Joshua Kimmich as well as Leipzig’s Marcel Halstenberg and Lukas Klostermann are returning.
“We have big plans for the two games in Ukraine and against Switzerland. It is clear that we now also want to score points in the Nations League. We finally want to reward ourselves with victories again for the effort we put in,” said Loew.
The German squad for the Nations League games: Tor: Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Bernd Leno (Arsenal FC), Kevin Trapp (Eintracht Frankfurt) Defense: Emre Can (Borussia Dortmund), Matthias Ginter (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Robin Gosens (Atalanta Bergamo), Marcel Halstenberg, Lukas Klostermann (both RB Leipzig), Robin Koch (Leeds United), Antonio Rüdiger (FC Chelsea), Niklas Süle (Bavaria Munich), Jonathan Tah (Bayer Leverkusen) Midfield / Attack: Julian Brandt (Borussia Dortmund), Julian Draxler (Paris St. Germain), Serge Gnabry, Leon Goretzka, Joshua Kimmich (all Bayern Munich), Kai Havertz (Chelsea FC), Jonas Hofmann, Florian Neuhaus (both Borussia Mönchengladbach), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), Luca Waldschmidt (Benfica Lisbon), Timo Werner (Chelsea FC)
Athletics, world records: Long-distance runner Letesenbet Gidey from Ethiopia broke the world record for 5000 meters in Valencia. The 22-year-old ran a time of 14: 06.65 minutes at the event and was over four seconds faster than her compatriot Tirunesh Dibaba (14: 11.15 minutes) in 2008. Gidey, five-time gold medal winner in cross-country skiing World Championships, won silver over 10,000 m at the World Athletics Championships in Doha last year.
World champion Joshua Cheptegei from Uganda broke the 15 year old world record over 10,000 meters in Valencia. The 24-year-old crossed the finish line after 26: 11.02 minutes and thus remained well below the old record of the three-time Olympic track winner Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia / 26: 17.53) from 2005. On August 14, Cheptegai had in 12: 35.36 minutes already set a world record over 5000 m.
Football, international matches: Shooting festivals of world champion France and ex-title holder Italy, a respectable success for Switzerland in the Germany test and a failed bond coach debut by Frank de Boer: the international football matches on Wednesday evening provided some highlights. The French team sent Germany’s next international opponent Ukraine back home with a 7-1 (4-0) package. Corentin Tolisso from FC Bayern scored the fifth goal for the Equipe tricolore (65th), while Olivier Giroud shone as a double goal scorer (24th and 34th). Viktor Zygankow (53rd) only succeeded in cosmetic results for the guests.
Italy made half a dozen against Moldova in the 6-0 (5-0) in Florence. The most successful goalscorer for the Squadra Azzurra was the Chinese legionnaire Stephan El Shaarawy, who was later replaced by Vincenzo Grifo from Freiburg, with two goals. Switzerland, the next but one opponent of the German national team in the Nations League next Tuesday, sold for a long time against vice world champions Croatia. Without the corona-infected Manuel Akanji from runner-up Borussia Dortmund and Xherdan Shaqiri, the Confederates had to admit defeat 1: 2 (1: 1) after a lead.
De Boer’s premiere as the Oranje national coach was not a good star. In Amsterdam, Elftal had a hard time in their first game under the successor of Ronald Koeman, who had migrated to FC Barcelona, in the 0-1 (0-0) against Mexico and had to admit defeat a little unexpectedly. In the most demanding duel of the evening, Cristiano Ronaldo was unable to continue his hunt for the international goal record of Iranian Ali Daei (109 goals) in the 0-0 win by European champions Portugal against former world champions Spain. The five-time world footballer is still with 101 international goals after the zero number.
Tennis, French Open: The world number one Novak Djokovic has reached the semi-finals at the French Open for the tenth time in his career. The 33-year-old tennis professional from Serbia prevailed on Wednesday evening in a new edition of the canceled US Open round of 16 against the Spaniard Pablo Carreño Busta after losing a set with 4: 6, 6: 2, 6: 3, 6: 4. In the semi-finals on Friday, Djokovic will face the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas. The other semifinals are contested by the twelve-time tournament winner Rafael Nadal from Spain and the Argentinian Diego Schwartzman. Djokovic is aiming for his 18th Grand Slam title in Paris, Nadal his 19th
.
