Ten Rothosen on international duty

The number of HSV players called up to their international squads for the upcoming games is impressive. Ten Rothosen have been called up in total: David Bates (Scotland), Léo Lacroix (Switzerland), Rick van Drongelen (The Netherlands U21s), Orel Mangala (Belgium U21s), Vasilije Janjicic (Switzerland U21s), Tatsuya Ito (Japan U21s), Manuel Wintzheimer (Germany U20s), Fiete Arp, Jonas David and Josha Vagnoman (Germany U19s). “It would be a completely different situation if we had fewer players on international duty, just like most other 2. Bundesliga teams. Therefore, it is quite useful that our next game is on a Monday evening because we have a bit of time to get everyone back together and prepare,” explained Wolf.

The ten players will be involved in significant games for themselves personally as well as their nations, but none more than defender David Bates, who has been named in the Scotland senior squad for the first time. The 22-year-old was called up by Scotland manager Alex McLeish for the Nations League games against Albania and Israel. Bates already has four U21 caps to his name. Fellow centre back, Léo Lacroix, was called up to the Switzerland senior squad for the second time but he still awaits his first international cap at senior level. The defender has represented Switzerland at youth level six times. Switzerland have two home games during the break, firstly a friendly against Qatar and then a Nations League game against Belgium.