Löw Nominates Hunt, Müller, Kießling

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 when he as captain of his club was benched because of his form? Also adding to this questionable selection are his fellow Stuttgart teammates Cacau and Sedar Tasci who were likely not picked at the last moment because of injury.

Unfortunately, injury has also sidelined Simon Rolfes, Torsten Frings, and Sami Khedira. One wonders still why Benedikt Höwedes nor Mats Hummels have not been selected despite the obvious sore lack of quality in central defense. There are also other players who deserve a dishonorable mention concerning their nominations chiefly the misfiring Mario Gomez, but let’s focus on the positives…

Tor

Rene Adler (Bayer Leverkusen), Manuel Neuer (FC Schalke 04), Tim Wiese (Werder Bremen)

Abwehr

Andreas Beck (TSG Hoffenheim), Jerome Boateng (Hamburger SV), Arne Friedrich (Hertha BSC Berlin), Philipp Lahm (FC Bayern München), Per Mertesacker (Werder Bremen), Marcel Schäfer (VfL Wolfsburg), Heiko Westermann (FC Schalke 04)

Mittelfeld

Michael Ballack (FC Chelsea), Christian Gentner (VfL Wolfsburg), Thomas Hitzlsperger (VfB Stuttgart), Aaron Hunt (Werder Bremen), Marko Marin (Werder Bremen), Thomas Müller (FC Bayern München), Mesut Özil (Werder Bremen), Bastian Schweinsteiger (FC Bayern München), Piotr Trochowski (Hamburger SV)

Angriff

Mario Gomez (FC Bayern München), Stefan Kießling (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Miroslav Klose (FC Bayern München), Lukas Podolski (1. FC Köln)