Germany Call-Up for Kazakhstan and Australia

March 18th, 2011 | by: Anne | Comments Off

Mostly unchanged, but some notable absences and reappearances:

Keeper: Manuel Neuer (Schalke), René Adler (Leverkusen), Tim Wiese (Werder Bremen)

Defense: Denis Aogo (Hamburg), Philipp Lahm (Bayern), Jerôme Boateng (Manchester City), Holger Badstuber (Bayern), Mats Hummels (Dortmund), Per Mertesacker (Werder Bremen), Arne Friedrich (Wolfsburg), Marcel Schmelzer (Dortmund)

Midfield: Sven Bender (Dortmund), Mario Götze (Dortmund), André Schürrle (Mainz 05), Lukas Podolski (Köln), Mesut Özil (Real Madrid), Thomas Müller (Bayern), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern), Sami Khedira (Real Madrid), Toni Kroos (Bayern), Christian Träsch (Stuttgart)

Forward: Miroslav Klose (Bayern), Mario Gomez (Bayern)

Looks good to me! I know some of you are getting out the shotguns for the defensive inclusions (and omissions), but I think I’ve already established that I’m going to be quite zen on this topic. I will say that Schmelzer could easily have been dropped – we have no idea why Jogi didn’t play him against Italy, he could have written him off entirely – and it’s very encouraging that he’s included. Hummels as well, though Jogi would be certifiable to leave him out. I for one hope that those two will get a chance to play together from the off, because they have experience and synergy from their time together at Dortmund and could add a extra something to our defense. Other than that, the biggest thing of note is that Westermann has finally been dropped! Apologies to any fans out there, but I am decidedly not, and this is a relief to me. As for the rest, it’s as to be expected. Jogi remains immune to the vagaries of the Bundesliga and holds faith with players he likes, and you may not like that policy, but I rather do. It lends a sense of stability to the team and reassures insecure players that Jogi has faith in them, an undervalued element that can only be good for team morale moving forwards.

Midfield sees the return of all the heavyweights along with the perhaps surprising retention of two of Dortmund’s young guns, Götze and Bender. I know Götze has what it takes, and Jogi’s showing he’s willing to put in the time that’s necessary to get Götze comfortable and working organically with the rest of the NT. That could pay off enormously in the next couple of tournaments. I also wouldn’t be surprised to see Bender get some time on the pitch, probably to see how he works with Schweinsteiger. Großkreutz is the Dortmunder who lost out this time, which is rather unsurprising. Toni Kroos returns from injury, and Träsch is included once more, a preference that continues to puzzle me, given that his lack of actual minutes renders him quite anonymous. The most surprising and, to me, delightful inclusion is that of André Schürrle. As a Mainz fan I’ve obviously watched him closely, and he has indeed been on song recently – he had a blistering performance in the 4-2 win over Hamburg (2 goals and an assist), and had a lot of bright ideas against Leverkusen but couldn’t quite break through. I think he’s capable of playing as a lone striker and thus provides an attractive alternative to the aging Klose and the, er, Gomez.

Of course, the most noteworthy omission is that of Ballack. Ballack is still not getting regular time with Leverkusen, and rumblings have suggested that the DFB plans to offer Ballack one last farewell match, his 99th cap, in the friendly against Brazil in August. The momentum is certainly against Ballack regaining a place in this squad, and it seems to me that Jogi has already made his decision. It’s a shame that such a storied career has to end this way, but I’ll leave it at that. You can feel free to discuss it amongst yourselves if you’re so inclined.

But while we’re on the subject of Leverkusen, the continued snubbing of their entire squad (with the exception of Adler) is quite puzzling. There are several players that I feel would bring a lot of value to the NT – Simon Rolfes, for one, who was a certainty for the WC before his injury, as well as Lars Bender, Sidney Sam, and Stefan Kießling. With our paucity of options at striker, it’s particularly strange that Kießling isn’t even getting a chance, when he was included in the squad for South Africa. Jogi, you are truly a man of mystery.

So that’s that! This squad will face Kazakhstan in an EQ on March 26th in Kaiserslautern, then Australia in a friendly on March 29th in Mönchengladbach.

The U-21s will also be in action with two friendlies against serious opponents: the Netherlands on March 25th, and Italy on March 29th. Let’s hope they can muster up something more exciting than the grinding 0-0 draw they endured against Greece. Their call-up is as follows:

Keeper: Oliver Baumann (Freiburg), Fabian Giefer (Leverkusen), Kevin Trapp (Kaiserslautern)

Defense: Marc Hornschuh (Dortmund), Tony Jantschke (Gladbach), Sebastian Jung (Frankfurt), Jan Kirchhoff (Mainz 05), Sebastian Neumann (Hertha Berlin), Shervin Radjabali-Fardi (Alemannia Aachen), Konstantin Rausch (Hannover), Lasse Sobiech (Dortmund)

Midfield: Lewis Holtby (Mainz 05), Christian Clemens (Köln), Daniel Didavi (Stuttgart), Ilkay Gündogan (Nürnberg), Patrick Herrmann (Gladbach), Felix Kroos (Bremen), Sebastian Rudy (Hoffenheim), Christopher Schindler (1860 München), Kevin Vogt (Bochum), Boris Vukcevic (Hoffenheim)

Forward: Pierre-Michel Lasogga (Hertha Berlin), Peniel Mlapa (Hoffenheim), Richard Sukuta-Pasu (St. Pauli)

Holtby of course returns as U-21 captain. Of this bunch, four are receiving their first call-up: Radjabali-Fardi, Schindler, Vogt, and Lasogga. Rainer Adrion continues to experiment as the team prepares to begin U-21 EURO 2013 qualifiers in August.

Auf geht’s Deutschland!