The German national team coach, Joachim Löw announced his list of 30 players which will start the preparations for the upcoming World Cup in Brazil …
The German list of players offers several interesting features and surprises, and one of the biggest is certainly leaving out, Fiorentina’s Mario Gomez.
Injuries cost Gómez World Cup place, says Löw
Although the 28-year-old former football player of Bayern Munich for most of the season had problems with injuries, recently he said that he will be ready and that he expects his appearance at the World Cup in Brazil 2014.
However, the Joachim Löw decided to leave Gomez out, the player who enrolled 59 appearances for the German national team and scored 25 goals.
The injury, however, did not stop Real Madrid midfielder Sami Khedira to be found on the wider list. Khedira due to a knee injury has not played since November, but recently he returned to training and was on the bench of Real Madrid, which for Joachim Löw was enough to invite him.
Smaller surprise presents and leaving out two goalkeepers who were in combinations, the 29-year-old Rene Adler of HSV and seven years younger Marc-Andrea ter Stegen (Borussia Monchengladbach) who from the next season will play for FC Barcelona. German World Cup goalkeepers so remain Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Roman Weidenfeller (Borussia Dortmund) and Ron-Robert Zieler (Hannover).
Wider list of Germany’s national team for the World Cup in Brazil:
Goalkeepers: Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Roman Weidenfeller (Borussia Dortmund), Ron-Robert Zieler (Hannover)
Defenders: Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich), Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund), Jerome Boateng (Bayern Munich), Per Mertesacker (Arsenal), Kevin Großkreutz (Borussia Dortmund), Erik Durm (Borussia Dortmund), Marcel Schmelzer (Borussia Dortmund), Shkodran Mustafa (Sampdoria), Benedikt Höwedes (Schalke), Marcell Jansen (Hamburger SV)
Midfielders: Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund), Mario Götze (Bayern Munich), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich), Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich), Mesut Özil (Arsenal), Toni Kroos (Bayern Munich), Lukas Podolski (Arsenal), Andre Schürrle (Chelsea) Julian Draxler (Schalke), Sami Khedira (Real Madrid), Max Meyer (Schalke), Lars Bender (Bayer Leverkusen), Leon Goretzka (Schalke), Andre Hahn (Augsburg), Matthias Ginter (Freiburg)
Forwards: Kevin Volland (Hoffenheim), Miroslav Klose (Lazio)
Germany will play with Portugal, Ghana and United States in the group stages this summer.