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Jogi Löw names Euro Squad

May 16th, 2008 | By: Jan | 22 Comments »

Jogi and his staff made a bit of a spectacle out of it – or where asked to do so by their friendly sponsors. In any case, they decided to hold their press conference/media event from a mountain top – the Zugspitze. Because Austria and Switzerland are all about mountains and because the German team plans to be on top in the coming tournament, I guess.

Anyway, here is the video of the presentation. At 0:30 kids start to walk the runway with the jerseys of the nominated players, looking a bit uneasy at times. I suppose this is the first and foremost place on the internet you go to get your fix of German national team news, so I won’t spoil the results. Enjoy the show.

If you can’t be bothered/can’t take the tension sitting through the whole video, you may also just simply check the following list…

Goalkeepers
Jens Lehmann (Arsenal), Robert Enke (Hanover 96), Rene Adler (Bayer Leverkusen)

Defenders
Christoph Metzelder (Real Madrid), Per Mertesacker (Werder Bremen), Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich), Arne Friedrich (Hertha BSC Berlin), Marcell Jansen (Bayern Munich), Clemens Fritz (Werder Bremen), Heiko Westermann (Schalke 04)

Midfielders
Michael Ballack (Chelsea), Thomas Hitzlsperger (VfB Stuttgart), Simon Rolfes (Bayer Leverkusen), Torsten Frings (Werder Bremen), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich), Piotr Trochowski (Hamburger SV), Tim Borowski (Werder Bremen), Jermaine Jones (Schalke 04), David Odonkor (Real Betis), Marko Marin (Borussia Mönchengladbach)

Forwards
Miroslav Klose (Bayern Munich), Lukas Podolski (Bayern Munich), Mario Gomez (VfB Stuttgart), Kevin Kuranyi (Schalke 04), Oliver Neuville (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Patrick Helmes (Cologne)

= 26 players. Which means three will get the axe after the training camp in Mallorca starting on Monday.

Discuss.

Tags: Euro 2008, Germany National Team News, Jogi Löw, Squad Presentation

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Comments

By diana | May 16th, 2008 at 9:39 am

I can’t run the video on this computer I am using, Angela. Have to try it again later. I tried to stream it through eurosport.yahoo.de earlier on but then it told me that it’s not avaliable in my area. And so I was in luck when I was on the Bild website and they have a running commentary and I depend over there for the news (in Goggle Translator).

Anyhow…there were a few surprises for me. I thought I almost choked on my dinner when reading the preliminary list (having my dinner and surfing the Internet at the same time). It was already after 7pm at where I am when it was announced. Okay, no surprises Gomez is there (and being a Stuttgart supporter, definitely very happy) but I am surprised Timo Hilderbrand is dropped. I’m not sure about his current situation at Valencia (I only remembered he was at goal at the Copa Del Rey final against Barcelona and his club won; it’s the Spanish King’s Cup final) but then I am just, surprised. Good that Neuville is back. And his fellow club teammate Marin is in there for the first time. Actually it was at the Bundesliga Offside I first know of Marin and so I hope to know more of him in the future.

I had already sort of have this feeling that Helmes will be on the list. My ’sixth sense’ told me that. Anyhow, nice to see Adler and Enke over there. I actually didn’t expect to see Adler on the list but Enke…given of his recent appearances at Hannover, I am not really surprised.

Other than that, it’s more or less what I had expected. And this time round, Kuranyi will have to make use of this chance to be in the final 23-man squad and not be among the casualties again like he was ahead of the World Cup two years ago.

Angela, I’m not a very good pundit but…that is my take.

Posted from Singapore

By Angela | May 16th, 2008 at 10:24 am

Jan thanks for posting the list as well as the video. The video took a few tries for me because it kept saying it was no longer available, but I got it finally. I also was surprised to see Timo not on the squad and since my German is non-existant I don’t know what they said about him in the video. I know that Enke has done well. Most of the list wasn’t much of a surprise, but let’s hope that Lukas can keep his run going and do well with the National side like he has in the past 3 games for Bayern.

Posted from United States

By Luke | May 16th, 2008 at 10:40 am

It seems the main surprise to everyone is Hildebrand. But I can’t say it would be somehow more comforting to have him there. Let’s just hope Jens is in game shape. Odonkor, despite playing well of late is still a real wildcard to me. I favor Helmes in the striker battle.

Posted from United States

By diana | May 16th, 2008 at 10:56 am

Angela, I had managed to watch the video just a while ago. Alright for me.

Very cute to see the kids all coming out. My favourite moment was when the kid wearing Gomez’s name almost forgo to give a high five to the coaching staff.

Posted from Singapore

By Chris | May 16th, 2008 at 11:24 am

I honestly don’t understand why Hildebrand was left out of the squad. Obviously, as a Stuttgart fan, I’m going to be very biased when it comes to him. Nevertheless, I don’t see what Hildebrand has done wrong. Yes, it was bad luck that Canizares remained at Valencia and yes, he’s had a bit of a bumpy season. But he has more caps than Enke or Adler. He has more international experience, he’s won the Bundesliga whereas Enke and Adler have not. Loew is quite obviously going for past successes and experience when it comes to Lehmann, why does he not extend this to Hildebrand? If Lehmann can’t play a game or two, I shudder to think about what would happen with Enke or Adler in goal, regardless of how well they played this season.
Other ‘Wtf’ moments: Jones? Marin? Odonkor? I somehow get the feeling Loew is trying to emulate Klinsmann’s bravery to make decisions such as dropping Kuranyi and taking Odonkor last season, but taking it a step too far. I really hope he hasn’t been taking too many risks here.
I’ll miss Schneider The midfield won’t be the same with Borowski or Rolfes.

Posted from United Kingdom

By Alex | May 16th, 2008 at 12:19 pm

Like everyone else, I’m a bit surprised by the keeper selection. I sort of suspected that Hildebrand was ultimately not going to be in a position to succeed Lehmann, but dropping Hildebrand seems odd given the decision to keep Lehmann as the number one, which suggests to me that Löw is valuing continuity (or has little faith in everybody else). The Süddeutsche Zeitung is quoting Köpke as saying the decision was between Enke and Hildebrand, which maybe makes sense if they want to take Adler to get experience of being at a major tournament. (And perhaps this is all a way of indicating that Enke will succeed Lehmann.)

Posted from United States

By Jan | May 16th, 2008 at 1:00 pm

I’m personally not too happy with the whole Lehmann situation. But it would have been even worse if Löw had decided to dump him only weeks before the tournament. This should have been dealt with 6 or 12 months ago. But Lehmann should still be a solid keeper, who can read a game and who can save the odd penalty. And he is a player for the big matches; like Ballack and Frings.

“The Süddeutsche Zeitung is quoting Köpke as saying the decision was between Enke and Hildebrand”

Well, Enke is in a way a perfect backup keeper. Together with Frank Rost (Hamburg), he is the keeper in the Bundesliga who didn’t make any decisive (= leading to goals) errors. Though, he didn’t make that many decisive saves either. But the fact that he basically makes 0 mistakes, makes him an excellent choice over Hildebrand. Hildebrand made a few decisive saves for Valencia but he also blundered too much. I generally rate Hildebrand very highly, though he has one problem: he seems to perform great when the pressure is on the team but falters when the pressure is one him.

By Jan | May 16th, 2008 at 1:09 pm

About Neuville vs Helmes:
I guess Löw will dump one striker and two midfielders after the training camp. And I still think that he will send Helmes back home. Neuville has already proven that you can bring him on late in the game and he’ll score the decisive goal (vs Poland WC2006) or will be able to deal with the pressure and take the first penalty (vs Argentina WC2006). And I think Löw will prefer this quality for a backup striker. Though, the fact that he decided to invite Helmes at all, should be an encouraging message to him, especially for the World Cup qualifiers, as I expect Neuville to end his nt career after the Euros. And he was chosen over players like Hanke or Kießling, despite playing “only” in the second Bundesliga.

Also interesting that he invited Marin (over e.g. hyped Kroos). Sometimes it suits you better to learn the basics with a smaller club where you get lots of playing time instead of learning from the best players in a great team (Bayern) but not getting any match practise.

By Juliet | May 16th, 2008 at 1:17 pm

I can’t wait for June 8!

Jogi looks pensive after seeing Odonkor’s name come past — wonder if he’s like “Odonkor? Whoops, I thought I scratched his name off.”

I’m surprised at Enke being selected over Hildebrand, but not shocked. I expected Loew would take the initiative to nominate some fresh faces — which he did with Adler and Marin (you said it, Jan!), but surely this is a blow for Hildebrand. On the other hand, I can see Loew’s thinking. Hildebrand’s played some *amazing* games against tough opponents in Spain, but he’s had some really bad ones, too. I don’t the recent 6-0 hammering courtesy of Barcelona was all his fault, but it couldn’t have looked good. :-/ But has Enke really had that great of a year, either? Hannover isn’t exactly burning up the table. There was a lot of clamor for Adler, but I noticed that Neuer was picked for the U-21s (oh, sweet delicious competition).

I see that he also kept the faith with Schweinsteiger and Podolski, who haven’t shined for Munich this year, or Hitzlsperger. But I don’t think he has as many options there. We all know they can play, they just have to find their enthusiasm.

And, in conclusion: Gomez.

Posted from United States

By oli | May 16th, 2008 at 1:19 pm

hanke, hilbert, castro, and timo were regulars during qualifiers
but he decided to go with Friedrich, uncap Marko Marin, Patrick Helmes
i don’t think they are going to win the euro with that squad

Posted from United States

By Jan | May 16th, 2008 at 1:50 pm

“hanke, hilbert, castro, and timo”

IMHO Mike Hanke is a symbol of the depressing times, when there really weren’t enough strikers better than Mike Hanke. But those times are luckily over, and there are some fresh faces already lining up to send Hanke further down the pecking order.

Hilbert, Castro and Timo all suffered from the topsy-turvy season’s of their clubs, or simply their topsy-turvy form. Hilbert and Castro both are interesting options for the future, but they didn’t really play all that great lately. True, you can say the same about a lot of the players on Jogi’s list, but I guess when you have two out-of-form players you pick the proven one, even if the other one might be a little bit better.

By Chris | May 16th, 2008 at 2:22 pm

I have been surprised by the lack of attention given to Frank Rost throughout the selection process. He is quite steady if unspectacular. Also surprised to see Piotr Trochowski be named despite his lack of games recently.

Posted from United States

By Nick | May 16th, 2008 at 2:23 pm

I am not all that surprised with the team selection.

Odonkor, who can forget his run against Argentina? He stole the ball from Sorin, unsettled him, and this directly set-up Ballack’s cross to Borowski and the flick to Klose for the miracle equaliser. Sure he has not had a great season, but when he was called upon, like in the friendly against Romania, he showed his speed, ran away with the ball and beat several players to score a goal alone. Honestly I haven’t seen such solo midfield play since Thomas Haessler.

Neuville, his form at Borussia merits his callback, if not his late crucial goals over the span of two World Cups. Plus Germany lack a relatively compact extremely agile striker.

Hitzlsperger of former Aston Villa fame. Of course Schneider would have been better but unfortunatly he is injured. On the other hand Thomas has shown his drive to give it all and his goals and play (even if a bit scrappy) got him the nod.

Hildebrand, it’s all been said before, but I will give another reason. Against Romania his responses were slow, he was unsure. Most importantly the defenders do not trust him.

Adler, this should not be a surprise. It was after all the Champions League performance for which Klinsmann chose Lehmann over Kahn, and again we see the pattern here.

Kuranyi, well I still do not trust him. After the four goals and the public nod, his place was set. Though as with Schalke the man seems to always miss the goals other strikers gladly put away. His game against the Czechs was great and he provided a good flick on in the Swiss friendly. Besides that he’ll be warming the bench, because Neuville is far more effective as a substitute than Kuranyi.

Marin. Well according to N-TV and FAZ Low has been quoted as saying Marin has these special qualities, the one-on-one play and so forth. With Schneider out Low decided on Marin. Let’s see what happens.

Not sure about Trochowski or Jones, but again Schneider will be sorely missed.

Now am I the only one seeing the pairings? Like the 54 World Cup one player plays with another. Of course it helps when they have been on the same team for a whole season and doing well like Borussia: Marin, Helmes, Neuville. Or the Hitzlsperger, Gomez.

And Jan I agree with the Hanke metaphor. Tahnk goodness those days are over.

I think two midfielders and a defender will be dropped.

And I am sure Germany have the quality to win this. Deutschland vor!

By Jan | May 16th, 2008 at 4:09 pm

Chris: I guess you can’t argue too much over Enke vs Rost, when you just compare their goalkeeping it comes down to details. But Enke is an easier character, so you can simply include him in any team and you don’t have to fear any conflicts. Rost has settled in excellently at Hamburg but was also in the centre of a dressing room rift between Slomka/Bordon and him at Schalke. Though, he probably also has an unwarranted bad reputation.

Nick: I’m not up to date on this one. Did you get in touch with us concerning blogging here?

And Marin indeed has “special qualities” .

I’d be surprised should Löw not drop one striker, unless he has plans to play Podolski as an attacking midfielder.

By Angela | May 16th, 2008 at 6:09 pm

Jan: Nick did get in touch with us I’m taking care of it no worries mate.

Posted from United States

By Olivier | May 16th, 2008 at 6:27 pm

marko marin, Helmes, and J. Jones are going to be drop

starting line up(100% sure)

klose-gomez
schweini-Frings-ballack-trochowski/rolfes
lahm-Mzelder-Msacker-fritz

Posted from United States

By Chris | May 17th, 2008 at 8:42 pm

Well as long as you’re 100% sure

Think Helmes will get dropped too…not quite seeing the point of this 26-man-squad malarky, it hasn’t been done before by Germany, has it? Am hoping Marin will stay in the team, with Jones and Trochowski dropped…they’re mediocre at best and I don’t understand why Loew has included them when there are better midfielders in the Bundesliga.

And I have to agree: Thank God the dire stiker times are over. I don’t miss Hanke at all. In fact, thank God the dire player times are over. Remember Ramelow, Jancker and Linke playing? I cringe to think of it.

Posted from United Kingdom

By ashkaaa | May 18th, 2008 at 5:18 pm

klose, podolski, trochowski, gomez….we don`t have good german players ?
shortly German team will be consist of only foreign players

Posted from Poland

By Jan | May 18th, 2008 at 6:51 pm

They are all German.

By Michel-olivier | May 19th, 2008 at 7:20 am

klose, podolski, and gomez have german heritage
i dont know about trochowski but all of them have german blood no matter what the percentage.

Posted from United States

By Jan | May 19th, 2008 at 11:54 am

It’s not about blood but citizenship. They all have German citizenship and thus are German and not foreigners. Klose, Podolski and Trochowski all have an emigration background. Mario Gomez has a Spanish father (thus the family name) and a German mother and was born in Germany.

By Bashar | May 19th, 2008 at 4:30 pm

I’m an Italy fan but I think Germany will win this Euro.. or at least have the best shot at it. Prediction.. Germany 0-1 Italy final. (Really the result is based on passion. 1-0 to Germany is probably more likely)

I was looking at the squad list and found something really upsetting. I’m sure this was mentioned to some extent but where the hell is Neuer and to a lesser extent Hildebrand? Did Loew just call up 2 keepers that are good but not good enough to compete with Lehmann? It’s like they don’t want a repeat of the Kahn/Lehmann saga. Neuer should be starting but he’s not even in the squad!!

Marin, Jones and Helmes won’t make it to the Euros. Calling up Neuville was just baffling but maybe he wanted some experience there. Aside from that… Thank God Asamoah is not on there. I have no clue how he keeps getting called up. Shame Schneider is out.

Who Loew should play up front is a hard question. Gomez is a given. Podolski seems to be hitting form while Kuranyi has been good this season. Klose is probably in the worst form but he’s the most experienced with Germany and I see him as a different type of player than Poldi or Gomez. I think Gomez and Poldi should play together based on form but if that doesn’t work well try Klose with Gomez.

Posted from United States

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