Löw names Germany squad for Argentina friendly

Germany coach Joachim Löw has named his 19 players squad for the first friendly of the season after Euro2012, a prestige friendly against Argentina next Wednesday, August 15 in Frankfurt/Main ahead of the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

Löw has named 17 players who were part of the Euro2012 squad with Sven Bender and teenager Julian Draxler getting a call-up after being axed at the last hurdle before the tournament. Also there has been a change in the no.2 position amongst the goalkeepers behidn Manuel Neuer with the younger Ron-Robert Zieler being preferred to the older Tim Wiese.

Missing will be captain Philipp Lahm due to the imminent birth of his child, while Bayern Munich team mates Bastian Schweinsteiger and Mario Gomez miss the friendly due to injuries. Also missing are Arsenal duo of Per Mertesacker and Lukas Podolski, where coach Löw wants the duo to concentrate on their clubs English Premier League campaign.


GERMANY

Goalkeepers
Manuel Neuer (FC Bayern München), Ron-Robert Zieler (Hannover 96)

Defenders
Holger Badstuber (FC Bayern München), Lars Bender (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Jérôme Boateng (FC Bayern München), Benedikt Höwedes (FC Schalke 04), Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund), Marcel Schmelzer (Borussia Dortmund)

Midfielders
Sven Bender (Borussia Dortmund), Julian Draxler (Schalke 04), Mario Götze (Borussia Dortmund), Ilkay Gündogan (Borussia Dortmund), Sami Khedira (Real Madrid), Toni Kroos (FC Bayern München), Thomas Müller (FC Bayern München), Mesut Özil (Real Madrid), Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund), André Schürrle (Bayer 04 Leverkusen)

Forwards
Miroslav Klose (Lazio Roma)