FC Bayern Forum

31.08.2006 <div class="abstand_unten_20"> </div> The new Bundesliga season is only three weeks old, but Bayern have already entered the first break in their domestic campaign with a full programme of international fixtures on Saturday 2 September and Wednesday 6 September. As ever, that means Felix Magath will be working with a rump squad reduced by approximately half as he prepares his troops for the Reds' next competitive encounter, a challenging German Cup trip to Hamburg outfit St. Pauli on Saturday 9 September.

By Thursday, a total of eleven of the 25-strong first-team squad had left Munich to join up with their national squads, with all the stars expected back in Bavaria a week's later. Most of the club's internationals, many of whom are only just picking up form after a brief and delayed pre-season caused by the World Cup, face crunch qualifying fixtures with their countries.

<b>Road to Euro 2008</b>

Germany duly open their Euro 2008 Austria/Switzerland qualifying programme against Ireland in Stuttgart on Saturday, before taking on minnows San Marino in Serravalle the following Wednesday. Bayern supply <b>Bastian Schweinsteiger, Philipp Lahm and Lukas Podolski</b> to Joachim Löw's squad.

Both <b>Willy Sagnol</b> and <b>Owen Hargreaves</b> will start as France and England respectively set out on the road to the European showdown. Sagnol (pictured) and his team-mates travel to Georgia at the weekend before a mouth-watering World Cup Final re-match with Italy in Paris next Wednesday, while Hargreaves and Co will be expected to collect maximum points against Andorra and Macedonia.

<b>Asian Cup and friendlies</b>

<b>Daniel van Buyten</b> and Belgium opened their qualifying campaign on 18 August, but a disappointing goalless draw with Kazakhstan has increased the pressure on the 'Red Devils' ahead of next Wednesday's trip to Armenia. Switching continents, <b>Ali Karimi</b> joins up with Iran for important AFC Asian Cup qualifiers against South Korea and Syria.

Friendly matches are the order of the day for South American duo <b>Lucio</b> and <b>Claudio Pizarro</b>. The iconic defender appears for Brazil against arch-rivals Argentina in London before a midweek meeting with Wales, while Pizza and Peru take on Ecuador in New Jersey, USA.

<b>U-21 Euro action</b>

Last but not least, <b>Michael Rensing</b> and <b>Andreas Ottl</b> are away on Germany U-21 duty in European championship qualifying action against Northern Ireland on 1 September and Romania on 5 September.