International preview: World Cup places at stake and friendlies

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Albion have 11 senior call-ups this international break.

2026-03-25T06:00+00:00

Pascal Gross has made 16 appearances for Germany. 📸by DFB / Philipp Reinhard.

Jason Steele will be sharing all he knows on Kaoru Mitoma’s qualities when England take on Japan at Wembley during the upcoming international break.

The goalkeeper received his first Three Lions call-up on Friday, with boss Thomas Tuchel outlining the role he foresees for Jason.

“Jason is a particular one because we’re planning to take four goalkeepers to the World Cup and the fourth goalkeeper has a special role.

“The three goalkeepers will compete and support each other for the matches but they will also compete for a place in goal.

Included in a #ThreeLions squad for the first time in his career.

Congratulations, Jason Steele! 👏 pic.twitter.com/H32qU59Pnc
— England (@England) March 20, 2026

“The fourth goalkeeper in a World Cup is then a specialist. He will support the goalkeeper group, he will support the goalkeeper coach, he will support a penalty-taking group and take a lot of workload off the other shoulders and that’s why we need an experienced guy.

“We need a guy with quality, with experience and with the right energy and attitude and we believe that Jason is this guy, so this is kind of a trial to find out how this group works together for the World Cup.”

England take on Uruguay at Wembley on Friday, before facing Samurai Blue on 31 March.

Japan will play Scotland at Hampden Park on 27 March.

Dünya Kupası Play-Off’unda mücadele edecek #BizimÇocuklar’ın aday kadrosu açıklandı! 🇹🇷🔥

Finallere giden yolda, Ay-Yıldızlılar hazırlıklarına bugünden başlıyor! 💪 pic.twitter.com/cuf6yiaArW
— Türkiye #BizimÇocuklar 🇹🇷 (@MilliTakimlar) March 20, 2026

Yasin Ayari, Ferdi Kadioglu and Diego Coppola will be aiming to help Sweden, Türkiye and Italy qualify for this summer’s World Cup.

Former Albion head coach Graham Potter recently signed a new contract that runs until 2030, but his focus will very much be on Thursday's match against Ukraine. Should they win they will face either Poland or Albania next Wednesday for a place at the finals.

Ferdi's Türkiye take on Romania on Thursday, and a win would see them face either Slovakia or Kosovo for their World Cup spot.

Diego will be hoping to start his country’s play-off match against Northern Ireland on Thursday. Should they win they will face Andrew Crofts’ Wales or Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Maxim De Cuyper’s Belgium play two friendlies. First they head to Atlanta – where Albion played in pre-season in 2023 – to take on the USA on Saturday, before playing Mexico in Chicago on Wednesday 1 April.

Pascal Gross is aiming to add to his 16 caps and stake his claim for a place in Die Mannschaft’s World Cup squad. They face Switzerland on 27 March before taking on Ghana three days later in friendlies.

Unser Kader für die anstehenden Länderspiele gegen die Schweiz und Ghana 🤝

_____
🇨🇭🇩🇪 27. März - 20:45 Uhr - RTL
🇩🇪🇬🇭 31. März - 20:45 Uhr - ARD#dfbteam pic.twitter.com/2J3D8WC1Mm
— DFB-Team (@DFB_Team) March 19, 2026

Were it not for injury, Stef Tzimas may well have been lining up for Greece against Diego Gomez’s Paraguay on Thursday. Our South American will then take on Morocco on Tuesday 30 March.

Yankuba Minteh’s Gambia face neighbours Senegal in their first match since Senegal had their Africa Cup of Nations title taken off them retrospectively and given to Morocco.

Also in friendly action are the Netherlands. Bart Verbruggen and Jan Paul van Hecke will be aiming to be involved against Norway (27 March) and Ecuador (31 March).

Youth call-ups

Under-23s