For the friendly matches against Chile (Köln) and the Ivory Coast (Gelsenkirchen) Löw has nominated the England prospect Aaron Hunt, the mercurial Thomas Müller, the Bundesliga topscorer Stefan Kießling, and of course the ever present Thomas Hitzlsperger.
Overall this is a good selection, but one wonders why a player like Hitzlsperger merits a call up [...]

Wins against South Africa and Azerbaijan were expected this past international week. What wasn’t were the positive signals that Germany is gaining momentum ahead of the World Cup. Still there are persisting questions regarding the Nationalmannschaft ahead of the crucial game in Moscow against Russia. For now let’s explore the winners and losers of this [...]

Germany hosts South Africa in Leverkusen for an international friendly on September 5TH before welcoming Azerbaijan for a World Cup qualifier in Hannover on September 8TH. In the meantime there have been rumblings from Michael Ballack about a need for improvement by the nation team in order to seal automatic qualification and to seriously contend [...]

 
And all of a sudden the whole Asia tour by Germany was absolutely worth it.

1. The German team won’t have won (m)any fans in China with this lackluster performance. Maybe the Chinese team has won some fans in Germany, as they at least showed some spirit. Watching friendlies of this team is starting to become a masochistic exercise. At least the officials of the DFB and DFL were smart [...]

It has been seven years since the national team was last in Asia. The current team manager Oliver Bierhoff was still playing for Germany, Jürgen Klinsmann was still retired in California, Michael Ballack and Miroslav Klose were two young players amongst a relatively unknown German selection, and the only hope for Germany and Bundestrainer Rudi [...]

So here it is. Good to finally see Neuer, though it makes me wonder why only him out of the U21. Otherwise, no real surprises considering Wolfsburg is top and Löw seems to be around for a lot of Stuttgart matches.

Tor
Robert Enke ? (Hannover 96), Manuel Neuer (FC Schalke 04)
Abwehr
Arne Friedrich ?? (Hertha [...]

Germany will not be in World Cup Qualifier action until late August. In the meantime the DFB has prepared an Asia promotional tour for the end of May and early June.
Since Werder Bremen and Bayer Leverkusen will be contesting the DFB Cup and Chelsea are favorites to win the (English) FA Cup, the National-Elf will [...]

Congratulations to Norway for a quick and aggressive game. Now where does that leave the German team? Today it left us 0-1 down in the last quarter and frustrated till the end. If this sort of form continues we will be looking at a playoff against France.

I really wonder what is going on [...]

Germany faces Norway on Wednesday (20:45) for an international friendly. Löw has selected newcomers Andreas Beck and Mesut Özil. Both Michael Ballack and Torsten Frings are also called up. However, both Lukas Podolski and Robert Enke are omitted due to lack of recent playing time and injury. Arne Friedrich, although in the original lineup, is [...]