Internationals

Final friendlies, comebacks and debuts: Rothosen on the world stage

For five of the ten HSV players called up to represent their national sides over recent weeks, their time on the world stage has come to an end for now. The other half of our globetrotting Rothosen are preparing for more action across the FIFA World Cup, the UEFA European U19 Championship, and another youth tournament.

The recent international fixtures have served as an opportunity for HSV’s ten call-ups to enjoy one highlight after another. Albert Grönbaek even received a special visit from HSV sporting director Claus Costa and his team while away with the Danish national side. The 25-year-old midfielder put pen to paper on a permanent move to the Rothosen, having spent the second half of the 2025/26 season in Hamburg on a loan basis. He even followed up the confirmation of his transfer with a comeback for his country, making a substitute appearance in the 0-0 friendly draw against DR Congo to play his first minutes for Denmark in nine months. The team’s second friendly fixture was overshadowed by the collapse of Christian Eriksen (VfL Wolfsburg) on the pitch, and the game was abandoned with Denmark 2-1 up after 65 minutes. Grönbaek was an unused substitute on the day.

Warmed Omari also enjoyed a return to the fold for his native Comoros in their recent fixtures. The 26-year-old defender was deemed worthy of another call-up after nine months without a nomination, and played a key role for his country across their matches against Morocco U23 (2-1 defeat) and Equatorial Guinea (1-0 victory), being named in the starting XI on both occasions. Initially, a friendly game against Rwanda had been scheduled, although after the opponent pulled out of the tie, Morocco’s youth team ended up taking their place.

It was a week Nicolas Capaldo will hardly forget any time soon, as the midfielder got the opportunity to make his debut for Argentina. HSV’s vice-captain was brought on as an 82nd-minute substitute as the reigning world champions defeated Honduras 2-0 in a friendly. Capaldo was shown a yellow card in the final moments of the affair. Argentina also won their next game in the run-up to the World Cup, beating Iceland 3-0, although the 27-year-old was an unused substitute that day. Capaldo was one of several players called upon to join and support the ‘Albiceleste’ in their tournament preparations, although he didn’t quite make the cut for the final 26-man squad. The World Cup finally kicks off today (Thursday, 11th June) as co-hosts Mexico take on South Africa at 21:00 CEST.

Speaking of the World Cup, three HSV players will be hoping to take their nations as far as possible in the USA, Canada and Mexico. Miro Muheim (Switzerland), Luka Vuskovic (Croatia) and Sander Tangvik (Norway) have each been called up to give their all for their countries. The trio all had friendly fixtures scheduled in the final few days ahead of the tournament. Muheim played a total of 48 minutes across Switzerland’s two friendlies, while Vuskovic played the full 90 minutes as Croatia fell to a 2-0 defeat against Belgium before being rested for the 2-1 win over Slovenia. Tangvik is a backup goalkeeper for the Norway set-up, and so watched on from the bench as his teammates defeated Sweden 3-1 before drawing 1-1 with Morocco.

Damion Downs (USA U21), Otto Stange (Germany U19) and Fabio Balde (Portugal U20) all saw involvement at youth international level as well. Downs got on the scoresheet for the USA’s 3-1 win against Ukraine U21. He was then not involved in the side’s subsequent 1-0 loss to Uzbekistan U23.

HSV duo gearing up for European U19 Championship

Stange was involved in Germany U19’s final friendly ahead of this summer’s European Championship, with the HSV academy graduate having been called up for the tournament. The side ran out 3-2 winners against Slovakia, with Stange netting an equaliser to make it 2-2 in the 70th minute. Stange and his countrymen will now turn their focus to the upcoming European U19 Championship, set to take place in Wales from 28th June to 11th July. Alongside Stange, another player from HSV’s academy is included in the squad in Moritz Reimers (set to join Holstein Kiel in the new season).

Balde is set to take part in the prestigious Maurice Revello Tournament in France, with Portugal U20 having already booked their place in the knock-out stage of the competition. After the side defeated Japan (4-1) and Venezuela (3-1) and drew with Ivory Coast (0-0) in the group stage, Balde and his teammates cannot finish below second place even if they lose to Canada tonight (Thursday, 11th June, 19:00 CEST). The youngster was brought on as a substitute against Japan and scored Portugal’s fourth goal of the game. He started the other two fixtures.

Philip Otele was able to enjoy more international action than he had initially imagined when being called up for the friendly ‘Unity Cup’ in London. He impressed so much in Nigeria’s 2-0 victory over Zimbabwe and 3-0 win against Jamaica that he was named in the Super Eagles’ squad to play further friendly fixtures against Poland (2-2) and Portugal (2-1 defeat). He played the second half against the Poles before being brought on for the final minutes against Portugal.

That sees his current spell representing his nation come to an end – as is the case for four of his HSV teammates. As Balde prepares to play his part in the upcoming knockout fixtures at the Maurice Revello Tournament, Stange (and Reimers) are counting down the days until the European U19 Championship kicks off. HSV’s three representatives at the World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the USA are all ready to go now. Muheim, Vuskovic and Tangvik won’t have to long to wait until crunch time; the first game of the tournament kicks off tonight (Thursday, 11th June).

All games involving HSV players at a glance

Miro Muheim
31/05/2026, Friendly: Switzerland vs. Jordan (4-1)
06/06/2026, Friendly: Switzerland vs. Australia (1-1)
13/06/2026, World Cup Group Stage: Qatar vs. Switzerland
18/06/2026, World Cup Group Stage: Switzerland vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina
24/06/2026, World Cup Group Stage: Switzerland vs. Canada

Sander Tangvik
01/06/2026, Friendly: Norway vs. Sweden (3-1)
07/06/2026, Friendly: Morocco vs. Norway (1-1)
17/06/2026, World Cup Group Stage: Iraq vs. Norway
23/06/2026, World Cup Group Stage: Norway vs. Senegal
26/06/2026, World Cup Group Stage: Norway vs. France

Luka Vuskovic
02/06/2026, Friendly: Croatia vs. Belgium (0-2)
07/06/2026, Friendly: Croatia vs. Slovenia (2-1)
17/06/2026, World Cup Group Stage: England vs. Croatia
14/06/2026, World Cup Group Stage: Panama vs. Croatia
27/06/2026, World Cup Group Stage: Croatia vs. Ghana

Nicolas Capaldo
07/06/2026, Friendly: Argentina vs. Honduras (2-0)
10/06/2026, Friendly: Argentina vs. Iceland (3-0)

Albert Grönbaek
03/06/2026, Friendly: Denmark vs. DR Congo (0-0)
07/06/2026, Friendly: Denmark vs. Ukraine (match abandoned)

Warmed Omari
06/06/2026, Friendly: Morocco U23 vs. Comoros (2-1)
09/06/2026, Friendly: Equatorial Guinea vs. Comoros (0-1)

Fabio Balde
03/06/2026, Maurice Revello Tournament: Japan U20 vs. Portugal U20 (1-4)
06/06/2026, Maurice Revello Tournament: Portugal U20 vs. Ivory Coast U20 (0-0)
08/06/2026, Maurice Revello Tournament: Venezuela U20 vs. Portugal U20 (1-3)
11/06/2026, Maurice Revello Tournament: Portugal U20 vs. Canada U20

Damion Downs
05/06/2026, Friendly: Ukraine U21 vs. USA U21 (1-3)
08/06/2026, Friendly: Uzbekistan U21 vs. USA U21 (1-0)

Philip Otele
26/05/2026, Unity Cup: Nigeria vs. Zimbabwe (2-0)
30/05/2026, Unity Cup: Jamaica vs. Nigeria (0-2)
03/06/2026, Friendly: Poland vs. Nigeria (2-2)
10/06/2026, Friendly: Portugal vs. Nigeria (2-1)

Otto Stange
27/05/2026, Friendly: Slovakia U19 vs. Germany U19 (2-3)
28/06/2026, U19 European Championship Group Stage: Germany U19 vs. Denmark U19
01/07/2026, U19 European Championship Group Stage: Wales U19 vs. Germany U19
04/07/2026, U19 European Championship Group Stage: Spain U19 vs. Germany U19