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Germany’s tough decisions

May 13th, 2008 | By: angela | 8 Comments »

When Jogi took over the national side from Jurgen Klinsmann, he had an incredibly big shoe to fill and he has done so with class. He had a team that was in peak form and could become even stronger given the right leadership. He has stepped into those shoes and filled them out quite nicely.

When he took his team to the Euro qualifiers, Germany finished strongly with a second place finish in Group D. Not only did they finish strongly, but they held a ten point gap between them and third place Republic of Ireland. Germany had only one defeat to the Czech Republic at home, but itcame after they’d already qualified. In the road through the qualifications, they managed 4 away wins and 2 draws scoring 21 goals and letting in only 3. They didn’t lose any away games. Loew can be happy for his side.

With a little less than four weeks until the Euro’s, there are a number of things on Jogi Loew’s mind and one of them is the great striker debate. Already in place are Miroslav Klose, Lukas Podolski, Mario Gomez and Kevin Kuranyi. The remaining striker position has several options. Among them are Mike Hanke or Stefan Kiessling. If you look to second division teams, which Jogi Loew hasn’t ruled out, you also have the option of Oliver Neuville and Patrick Helmes. Neuville has really helped Borussia Moenchengladbach’s promotion back into the first division.

The other good news for Loew is that players such as Tim Borowski, David Odonkor and Jermaine Jones have shown some great late season form. And even better than that is the news of Christoph Metzelder taking part in full training again after a foot injury. Sebastian Kehl looks to be back on track as well. And of course, Miroslav Klose has successfully come through his surgery and should be well in time for the Euro’s. This is all good news for Loew.

This Friday should be the announcement of Loew’s choice for the 25 or 26 players that he will take to a ten day training camp in Majorca. From there, the squad will be whittled down to 23 players that will be presented to UEFA by the deadline of May 28th (My birthday). On May 27th, Germany play a friendly against Belarus in Kaiserslautern. I wonder if that will have any effect on the list that has to be turned in the following day.

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Comments

By diana | May 13th, 2008 at 9:58 pm

Your birthday will be when the deadline to submit the final squad list to UEFA? Wow, Angela. Like about two weeks from now.

And on the day Jogi is going to announce the squad from the Zugspitze (16 May), it’s actually on the eve of my sister’s birthday. Back then when I first read the date of the announcement, that came to mind immediately. It’s like how I used to remember the friendly against England at the Wembley last year…it was actually exactly a week after my birthday. In a way back then it’s like a belated birthday present for me.

Posted from Singapore

By Parker | May 13th, 2008 at 10:33 pm

I vote for Neuville

By Angela | May 13th, 2008 at 10:47 pm

Yep, My birthday is the day that the final UEFA list has to be submitted. So hopefully Jogi will give me a good present even though most of my boys are pretty well guaranteed to make the squad.

Parker: Neuville seems like an obvious choice to me. He’s been great previously.

Posted from United States

By diana | May 13th, 2008 at 11:10 pm

‘So hopefully Jogi will give me a good present even though most of my boys are pretty well guaranteed to make the squad.’
Heh. I will be crossing my fingers to see Gomez on the list this Friday. Being a Stuttgart supporter, that is my main concern. If not, I will have to book a flight and fly to Germany and…just kidding. I will still be watching the tournament from home anyway.

Neuville…it will be great if he returns. Borussia Moenchengladbach’s returning to the Bundesliga next season and he did had a hand in their promotion.

Posted from Singapore

By Angela | May 14th, 2008 at 8:38 am

I don’t think Mario will have a problem getting into the squad Diana. I read that he, Podolski, Klose and Kuranyi are already in line for the list. Podolski has scored in the last three games for Bayern so hopefully his form will continue on into the Euro’s.

Posted from United States

By Nidal | May 14th, 2008 at 1:57 pm

hi …wow im astonished…girls are interested in football.. i realy like that…happy birthday angela and please tell me whats ur favourite team ?..for me i love italy and holland ….and i think most girls like italy because their team have a very good looking men ..looooooooool

By Luke | May 15th, 2008 at 11:47 am

I’ve got to favor Helmes. He has been clutch. The best argument for Neuville seems to be having him around for a match that goes to penalties.

Posted from United States

By Jan | May 15th, 2008 at 1:56 pm

I’d favour Helmes as well (not just because I’m a Cologne fan). But Neuville has the whole experience thing going for him and he already scored decisive goals during World Cups, so I guess Löw will select him, but Helmes will probably be the one to be called up after the Euros.

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