ast week, 7 of our Kemphanen had the honor of wearing their national team’s jersey. Proud as they were, we saw them all singing their national anthems. Three of them were called up to the senior team: Sergii Sydorchuk, Josimar Alcocer, and Allayhar Sayyadmanesh, while four were part of the U21 squad: Tuur Rommens, Luka Vuskovic, Adedire Mebude, and Emir Ortakaya.

Iran, with Allayhar twice on the bench as a substitute, won both of their matches: 1-0 against Kyrgyzstan and another 0-1 victory in the United Arab Emirates. Sergii was on the bench once against Albania (a 1-2 loss) and had to sit in the stands for the match against the Czech Republic (a 2-3 loss).

Josimar Alcocer won 3-0 against Guadeloupe (playing 63 minutes) and played a 0-0 draw in Guatemala (27 minutes). Tuur Rommens started in the match against Kazakhstan, and our young Red Devils won 3-0. Tuur was subbed off one minute before the final whistle.

Luka Vuskovic made his debut for Croatia’s U21 team, playing the full 90 minutes twice, in a 2-1 win against the Faroe Islands and a 0-2 loss to Portugal. Adedire Mebude, despite losing with Scotland against Spain’s U21 team, managed to equalize just 6 minutes after coming on, though the match ended in a 1-2 defeat. In the next match against Malta (a 0-5 win), he earned a starting spot and was substituted after 75 minutes.

Finally, Emir Ortakaya scored his first goal for Turkey’s U21 team. In the 1-6 win against San Marino, he sealed the final score in the last minute, having come on in the 65th minute.

Congratulations to all our Kemphanen!