Loew names Germany squad for France friendly

Germany coach Joachim Loew has named his squad for the first friendly of the year 2012, an important friendly against France next Wednesday, February 29 in Bremen ahead of the 2012 European Championships in Poland and the Ukraine this summer.

As expected there were no surprises in the 22 players squad with Loew only picking two goalkeepers in Neuer and Wiese as Germany will only be playing one friendly with number three Ron-Robert Zieler (Hannover 96) dropped for this game, while missing will be defender Per Mertesacker plus midfielders Bastian Schweinsteiger, Lukas Podolski and Mario Götze all due to injury.

There has been discussions in Germany if an off-colour Cacau should be dropped and an inform Mike Hanke recalled to the squad, but Loew as per his principles continues to trust a player who has delivered in a Germany shirt.


GERMANY

Goalkeepers
Manuel Neuer (FC Bayern München), Tim Wiese (Werder Bremen)

Defenders
Dennis Aogo (Hamburger SV), Holger Badstuber (FC Bayern München), Jérôme Boateng (FC Bayern München), Benedikt Höwedes (FC Schalke 04), Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund), Philipp Lahm (FC Bayern München), Marcel Schmelzer (Borussia Dortmund), Christian Träsch (VfL Wolfsburg)

Midfielders
Lars Bender (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Sven Bender (Borussia Dortmund), Sami Khedira (Real Madrid), Toni Kroos (FC Bayern München), Thomas Müller (FC Bayern München), Mesut Özil (Real Madrid) (1. FC Köln), Marco Reus (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Simon Rolfes (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), André Schürrle (Bayer 04 Leverkusen)

Forwards
Mario Gomez (FC Bayern München), Miroslav Klose (Lazio Rom), Cacau (VfB Stuttgart)