FC St. Pauli

Australia finished third in their Asian World Cup qualifying group behind Saudi Arabia and Japan to miss out on direct qualification but their dream of reaching the final tournament is still alive. The Socceroos face the United Arab Emirates in the AFC play-off in Doha (Qatar) on Tuesday, 7 June, with the winners advancing to the intercontinental play-off against Peru, who finished fifth in the South American qualifying competition, in Ar-Rayyan (Qatar) a week later.

Elsewhere, Nikola Vasilj is on Nations League duty with Bosnia and Herzegovina, with matches lined up against Romania on Tuesday, 7 June (20.45 CET), Montenegro on Saturday, 11 June (20.45 CET) and Finland on Tuesday, 14 June (20.45 CET).

Ghana host Madagascar at the Cape Coast Stadium tonight in their opening match of their Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign. Daniel-Kofi Kyereh has been named in the squad that will then travel to the Central African Republic for the second game on Sunday (15.00 CET). Next up for Kyereh and Co. is a Kirin Cup meeting with hosts Japan in Kobe on Friday, 10 June.

The fourth St. Pauli player on international duty is Igor Matanović, who has opted to play for Croatia in future having previously represented Germany, most recently in March. The striker scored five goals in eight appearances for the Germany Under-18s, Under-19s and Under-20s. He also played three times for Croatia at Under-14 level and is now set to go up against Norway in the European Championship qualifiers on Friday, 3 June (18.00 CET) and then hosts Estonia the following Wednesday (18.00 CET).

Photos: Witters/Asian Football Confederation