Joachim Löw names Germany squad for Chile friendly

Die Mannschaft

Germany coach Joachim Löw has named his 21 player squad for this year’s first international friendly against Chile on March 5 in Stuttgart.

The big surprise in the selections were the first international call-ups for Matthias Ginter of SC Freiburg, Shkodran Mustafi of Sampdoria Genoa, Pierre-Michel Lasogga of Hamburger SV and André Hahn of FC Augsburg.

The match also marks the return of Bastian Schweinsteiger of FC Bayern Munich, Kevin Großkreutz of Borussia Dortmund, Miroslav Klose of Lazio and Lukas Podolski of FC Arsenal.

Löw has left out, has given a break or had to leave out due to injury Benedikt Höwedes (FC Schalke 04), Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund), Marcell Jansen (Hamburger SV), Heiko Westermann (Hamburger SV), Sven Bender (Borussia Dortmund), Julian Draxler (Schalke 04), Sami Khedira (Real Madrid), Thomas Müller (FC Bayern München), Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund) and Max Kruse (Borussia Mönchengladbach).

Speaking about his selections, Joachim Löw said, “With the World Cup approaching, we can’t and won’t make any compromises. We must do everything to ensure success. I’ve spoken to a lot of my players personally over the course of the past few weeks. Many of them, some of whom are key players, are still carrying knocks and are injured or have only just returned to action and haven’t yet got into their stride. We now have the opportunity to act and to work on solutions and alternatives that’ll help us in the case of an emergency. This is why we’ve decided to bring in a few new faces, players who’ve consistently performed well for their clubs during the last few weeks and months.”

“Our plans are completely focused on our first World Cup group match on 16 June, as we’ll need to be at the top of our game by the time we face Portugal. This will only be possible if all of the players with us at our training camp in South Tirol for the final preparations in two and a half months’ time are completely fit and in excellent shape, both physically and mentally,” Löw added.

GERMANY

GoalkeepersManuel Neuer (FC Bayern München), Roman Weidenfeller (Borussia Dortmund)

DefendersJérôme Boateng (FC Bayern München), Matthias Ginter (SC Freiburg), Kevin Großkreutz (Borussia Dortmund), Philipp Lahm (FC Bayern München), Per Mertesacker (FC Arsenal), Shkodran Mustafi (Sampdoria Genoa), Marcel Schmelzer (Borussia Dortmund)

MidfieldersLars Bender (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Mario Götze (FC Bayern München), André Hahn (FC Augsburg), Toni Kroos (FC Bayern München), Mesut Özil (FC Arsenal), Sidney Sam (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), André Schürrle (Chelsea London), Bastian Schweinsteiger (FC Bayern München)

ForwardsMiroslav Klose (Lazio Roma), Pierre-Michel Lasogga (Hamburger SV)