Three wins to end the international break

There were mixed emotions for the HSV players in the last games of the international break as five HSV players were in action yesterday. More importantly for David Bates and Rick van Drongelen, it was the final game of U21 Euros qualification. Bates once again played the full 90 minutes, however Scotland lost 2-0 to neighbours England thanks to goals from Hoffenheim’s Reiss Nelson and Everton’s Keiran Dowell. Scotland finished fourth in their goup with 14 points, which was not enough for qualification to next year’s U21 European Championship in Italy.

Bates’ defensive partner van Drongelen will also not be participating in next year’s tournament. Despite a convincing 3-0 win over Ukraine, The Netherlands U21 finished in second place, which was not enough to qualify. Only the four best second-placed sides play in a play-off against each other to battle out for a place at the finals next year. Holland managed to pick up 18 points, but this was enough to qualify for a play-off spot. Orel Mangala and Manuel Wintzheimer were more successful in their matches. Mangala managed 30 minutes in Belgium’s 3-0 win against Sweden while Wintzheimer was also involved in Germany U20s 3-2 win over Switzerland.

Hee-chan Hwang started South Korea’s 2-2 draw against Panama and he also had a hand in one of the goals. Despite having a two-goal lead, Hwang & Co. could unfortunately not hold on.