Who Is Coming?

May 14th, 2009 | By: Nick | 4 Comments »

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 be without the services of Michael Ballack, Torsten Frings, Per Mertesacker, Mesut Özil, Patrick Helmes, Simon Rolfes, Tim Wiese, and René Adler. Also, since the U21 EM starts in mid-June, Low is unlikely to select Marko Marin, Manuel Neuer, or any other member of the German U21 team.

The two friendlies against China and the UAE represent a good opportunity to try some new tactics. Also, Löw might opt to test the fitness of players like Miroslav Klose – who has just returned after a prolonged injury. (Mario Gomez coincidentally injured himself so it is unlikely that he will be on the tour.)

As a number of regular veterans and promising youth players are ruled out of the two friendlies in Asia, the tour is perhaps the last chance for fringe players like VfB Stuttgart’s Christian Träsch and naturalized-German Brazilian Cacau to ever feature in the national team. Löw has thus far not made his selection clear, but is adamant that neither Jens Lehmann or Kevin Kuryani will ever be selected again.

Tags: Friendlies, Germany National Team News

Germany World Cup RSS Feed

Comments

By Michel-Olivier | May 14th, 2009 at 6:34 pm

cacau
schlaudraff
lell
weidenfeller
jones
trasch
hilbert
friedrich

Posted from United States

By diana | May 16th, 2009 at 7:31 am

‘Löw has thus far not made his selection clear, but is adamant that neither Jens Lehmann or Kevin Kuryani will ever be selected again.’
How many times have the bundestrainer told us those two will never be selected again? The more I read (even though I have to say he is very consistent on his answer on that each time it is raised), the more it is boring me to tears.

Off-topic a bit. In regards to the FA Cup final…I am rooting for um, not Ballack’s club. You can smack me if you want, Nick.

Michel-Oliver, are those your possible suggestions on who could be on the squad for the two friendlies in the summer? I am not sure if Schlaudraff had earned his spot though. Weidenfeller had been touted as a possible suggestion which I am aware of in regards to the goalkeeping department. Speaking of goalkeepers…correct me if I am wrong Nick, but I think I used to read Loew used to talk about selecting Enke for the trip.

Posted from Singapore

By Armando | May 17th, 2009 at 9:34 pm

Even with all these players gone, i think you could still play with a good 4-3-3, something like this:

Weidenfeller
Beck Metzelder Tasci Lahm
Schweinsteiger Rolfes/Hitzelsperger Trochowski
Helmes Klose Podolski

The only tough part is picking between Hitzelsperger and Rolfes for the central midfield role. Or if you put Hitzlsperger in, then put him on the left and Trochowski in the middle. But Rolfes, being a defensive midfielder, should be in the center. Any way it works.

By Nick | May 18th, 2009 at 1:12 pm

The nominations will be announced Tuesday. Enke will most likely be in goal and for some reason Ballack is expected back – and maybe even Metzelder or Huth whose side got relegated.

Comments are closed