Gruezo, Gumny and Vargas called up for the World Cup
Koubek, Bauer and Zehnter also on international duty
First Team
16.11.2022, 14:40
The FIFA World Cup gets underway on Sunday, with three Augsburg players named in their respective nations’ squads. Three further players will also be on international duty elsewhere.
In just a few days time, the FIFA World Cup gets underway, a tournament whose awarding was clearly described by FCA president Markus Krapf at a club membership meeting: “it is unacceptable in society that the World Cup is taking place in a country where basic human rights have been trampled on for many years. However, the awarding process is now complete and the tournament will not be stopped. It’s now down to footballing authorities to ensure the mistakes seen here are never repeated again when awarding a major sporting event.”
“Nevertheless, taking part in a World Cup will see a few of our young players’ dreams come true, and is also perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. They’ve invested a lot to get there, and worked hard a long time for the chance to represent their country at a World Cup. For them, the sporting side clearly comes first and we of course wish them the greatest possible success. As a club we have also therefore decided to report on our players’ involvements on our channels. However, we want to put down a marker and will not be mentioning the name of the country or the locations of the matches in our reports. We want to place all focus on the sport,” said Markus Krapf.
Three FCA players representing their countries at the World Cup
Carlos Gruezo had to come off after half an hour of the last home game against VfL Bochum, but the midfielder only suffered a minor tendon injury to his thigh, and is therefore able to travel with his national team. Gruezo and Ecuador play the opening game against the hosts (Sunday, 20th November, 17:00 CET), joined in their group by the Netherlands (Friday, 25th November, 17:00 CET), and Senegal (Tuesday, 29th November, 16:00 CET).
For Robert Gumny and the Polish national team, the World Cup gets underway on Tuesday, 22nd November at 17:00 CET against Mexico. They will later face Saudi Arabia (Saturday, 26th November, 14:00 CET) and highly favoured Argentina (Wednesday, 30th November, 20:00 CET). The 24-year-old, who got his first national call-up while at Augsburg, current has four Poland caps to his name, and is set to take part in his first major tournament with his nation.
Ruben Vargas, who also made his international debut while playing for FCA, already has tournament experience, having taken part in the Euros last year with Switzerland. His country made it through to the quarter-finals, where they were defeated by Spain (1-1, 3-1 on penalties). The Swiss forward will be taking on Cameroon (Thursday, 24th November, 11:00 CET), the favourites Brazil (Monday, 28th November, 17:00 CET), and Serbia (Friday, 2nd December, 20:00 CET).
Bauer and Zehnter called up for Germany youth sides
There are also international fixtures coming up for three more Augsburg players. Tomáš Koubek and the Czech Republic take on the Faroe Islands (Wednesday, 16th November, 18:00 CET), before they visit Turkey (Saturday, 19th November, 18:00 CET). Maximilian Bauer and the Germany U21 national team play against Italy in Ascona (Saturday, 19th November, 17:30 CET), and Aaron Zehnter heads to Malta for a tournament with the U19s. Their opponents are set to be Poland (Wednesday, 23rd November, 11:00 CET), Malta (Saturday, 26th November, 12:30 CET), and Portugal (Tuesday, 29th November, 18:00 CET).
