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Nations League: Kobel saves a penalty, Ryerson wins with Norway
After his promotion to first-choice goalkeeper for Switzerland, Gregor Kobel is still awaiting his first clean sheet with the national team. But the 26-year-old again showed his class in the game against Serbia in Zurich on Friday night. In the 54th minute of the encounter, the BVB goalkeeper saved an Aleksandar Mitrovic penalty with his foot. The match ended in a 1-1 share of the spoils between Switzerland and Serbia. The result condemned Kobel & co. to relegation from League A of the UEFA Nations League.
It was a much better night for the Germany U21s, who after recently securing qualification for the EURO faced Denmark in a friendly fixture in Aachen. The Dortmund striker Maximilian Beier was in the starting line-up for the young German side in their 3-0 victory. Beier had a key role to play in the opening goal in the fifth minute: he fired a shot on goal which struck the upright, but the rebound fell kindly to Hannover's Nicolo Tresoldi, who had a simple finish to make it 1-0. The Black & Yellow forward was substituted off in the 65th minute. He was replaced by Youssoufa Moukoko, who is currently out on loan at OGC Nice from BVB. Moukoko scored the final goal to secure a 3-0 win for Germany.
A further three Black & Yellow players were in action on Thursday evening: Julian Ryerson's Norway side enjoyed a 4-1 win over Slovenia, with the BVB full-back playing the full 90 minutes. The win saw Norway leapfrog Slovenia in the table, meaning they are now in second place, level on points with Austria but just behind on goal difference. Austria, for their part, won 2-0 away in Kazakhstan. Marcel Sabitzer was an unused substitute. Elsewhere, Ramy Bensebaini's Algeria drew 0-0 with Equatorial Guinea. The BVB defender was substituted off at half-time.
Filippo Mané (Italy U20s) and Almugera Kabar (Germany U19s) were successful with their respective youth national teams. Mané's Italy beat Poland 3-2, while Kabar's Germany ran out 3-1 winners over Cyprus.