Euro2012: Loew announces Germany probables

German national team coach Joachim Löw today announced his 27 player probables squad for the 2012 European Championships in Poland and the Ukraine. The announcement was made at a press conference in Rastatt, the home of one of the DFB sponsors.

The only real surprise is the inclusion of Schalke teenager Julian Draxler with Gladbach goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen the only other player without a Germany cap. Also making a comeback is Dortmund midfielder Ilkay Gündogan, who has been in grea form towards the end of the season.

Missing out on a place in the squad are players like Dennis Aogo, Christian Träsch and Simon Rolfes; who have been in the squad in recent times. Loew is only taking three striker to the tournament with Stefan Kießling, Patrick Helmes and Mike Hanke all losing out to Cacau after good performances in recent weeks.

The preparations are hampered due to the German Cup final this coming weekend with the Bayern Munich players only set to join the camp after the UEFA Champions League final on May 19 and will miss the regeneration camp in Sardinia.


GERMANY

Goalkeepers
Manuel Neuer (FC Bayern München), Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Tim Wiese (SV Werder Bremen), Ron-Robert Zieler (Hannover 96)

Defence
Holger Badstuber (FC Bayern München), Jerome Boateng (FC Bayern München), Benedikt Höwedes (FC Schalke 04), Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund), Philipp Lahm (FC Bayern München), Per Mertesacker (Arsenal FC), Marcel Schmelzer (Borussia Dortmund)

Midfielders
Lars Bender (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Sven Bender (Borussia Dortmund), Julian Draxler (FC 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), Lukas Podolski (1.FC Köln), Marco Reus (Borussia Mönchengladbach), André Schürrle (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Bastian Schweinsteiger (FC Bayern München)

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

Lahm writes autobiography, creates controversy

Germany and FC Bayern Munich captain Philipp Lahm has gotten himself into serious trouble with his upcoming autobiography, though it hasn't been released so far but only excerpts have been published in the German tabloid Bild.



The book titled 'The Subtle Difference' is about Lahm's observations over the years of his professional career about his coaches and teams. The first excerpts have been about Rudi Voeller, Juergen Klinsmann, Felix Magath and Louis van Gaal; with some harsh criticism from Lahm about their coaching and style of players management.



Philipp Lahm was surprised at the reactions and had to come out with a public statement which said, "Of course, I did not want to attack or offend Rudi Voeller, Juergen Klinsmann and other people. Rather I wanted, as is clear from reading my book, to portray my honest opinion about the work under different coaches and at different times."



All this hasn't gone down well with the football establishment in Germany with even the German FA (DFB) having to come together to discuss if any action would be taken against Lahm but the captain will not lose the armband as many in the German media speculated.



"We want mature players to make their opinions known, however in this case, Philipp has over-stepped the mark," said team manager Oliver Bierhoff.



And the same opinion was German national coach Joachim Loew who said, "There are a few passages in the book which I don't like, because here we have a young player openly criticising his trainer after they have worked together successfully for a long time."



"We will talk about this together next week," Loew added.



The autobiography has come in for heavy criticism by numerous Bundesliga coaches who cannot understand how Lahm could simply write such a book.

4-0? Still German fans unhappy

Germany yesterday won their 2012 European Championship Group A qualifier against lowly Kazakhstan 4-0 at the Fritz-Walter Stadium, now have 15 points from five matches and moved closer to qualification for the finals, but the German fans weren't happy with the teams performance in the second session which led to booing and signs of dissent.

Before the match coach Joachim Loew had called on his team to entertain the crowds against their opponents from the former central Soviet republic, who are 132nd in the latest FIFA world rankings. Loew didn't worry about the strengths of the Kazakhs, but asked his team to concentrate on their own game and play football.

And his team did just that in the first session. Miroslav Klose scored in only the 3rd minute with Thomas Mueller adding two more in the 25th minute and just before half time both off passes from Mesut Oezil, and the team could have scored a few more.

But after the break Germany became complacent with Kazakhstan even having a couple of good chances which had to be stopped by goalkeeper Manuel Neuer. The longer the half lasted the more German fans showed their frustration against their own team. Still Klose added a fourth just before the end to score his 61st goal for Germany, but the fans booed at the end of the game.

This wasn't to the liking of Loew and his team, who all when asked by the media about the fan discontent said; Germany lead their group comfortably - 15 points, 17-1 goals, a 4-0 win against a lowly opponent - they asked, what do they want more?

This shows that after a great 2010 FIFA World Cup and comfortable wins in the qualifiers so far the expectations have grown. German fans expect more from their team then just simple wins...

Lahm extends contract until 2016

Things have been going far from perfect for FC Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga so far, then the speculations about Bastian Schweinsteiger's possible departure and then the spat between the president Uli Hoeness and coach Louis van Gaal. But there are also some positives like Bayern's four victories out of four matches in the UEFA Champions league, a first for the club.

But there is good news for the club and their fans as Philipp Lahm has decided to extend his contract until summer 2016 with the Bavarian giants. The Germany captain had a contract until summer 2012, but he is happy at the club and wanted to stay in his home town rather then join another major European club.

"We have reached an agreement with Philipp Lahm about a contract extension until the summer of 2016. He will sign the new deal in the upcoming days," Bayern chairman Karl Heinz Rummenigge was quoted by Germany's Bild tabloid.

After verbally agreeing to extend his contract at Bayern, Lahm seems to have decided to play his entire top class career at Bayern Munich then in summer 2016 he would be aged 32. The Bayern Academy product has been at the club since he was 11 and he is regarded as one of the best right & left backs in world football.

The focus of the bosses at Bayern will shift to renew the contract of midfielder Schweinsteiger too. Like Lahm he has a contract until 2012 and the management would surely want to kill the speculation that has been surrounding Schweinsteiger for a while with especially Real Madrid, Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City showing real interest.

Germany: Ballack remains captain

German national team coach Joachim Loew held a press conference today in Frankfurt/Main ahead of Germany's first 2012 European Championship qualifier against Belgium in Brussels on Friday. But the match wasn't the topic of the press conference as the present German media only wanted to know the future of Michael Ballack in the national team.

Ballack's future has been a topic of heated discussions here in Germany since the success of the young German team under Philipp Lahm at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. The country is divided on the topic as some say Ballack should retire, others he should remain captain and a further opinion has been that Ballack should continue to play for Germany no matter if he is captain or not.

Now Loew informed the media what he told Ballack, Lahm and the rest of the team. And to some it came as a surprise as Loew confirmed that Ballack remains the captain of the team, but the coaching staff would like to see a strengthened players body which would include Ballack, Lahm, Schweinsteiger and Klose. Lahm continues to be the vice-captain and in Ballack's absence would be the team captain.

Ballack has been left out of Germany's squad to face Belgium and Azerbaijan in the coming days due to his long injury lay-off plus lack of match fitness and form. It will have to be seen if Ballack is able to regain full fitness and a decent form to justify a call-up next month when German face Turkey and Kazakhstan, then Loew said he has been very happy with the performances of Bastian Schweinsteiger and Sami Khedira, so Ballack would have to be better then them to get back his spot. Schweinsteiger looks to have a secure place, so one will have to see how Khedira does at Real Madrid and Ballack at Bayer 04 Leverkusen as Khedira has also said, he would like to retain his place in the first eleven.

If Ballack for reasons of performance and fitness is left out again in October, then Lahm would continue to be captain and the discussions will start again about Loew not formally ending Ballack's international career, but forcing it him out on performance grounds.

Germany name Euro2012 qualifier squad

Germany national coach Joachim Loew has named his 21 member squad for the first two qualification matches for the 2012 European Championships to be played in the Ukraine and Poland. And not surprisingly missing from the squad is former captain Michael Ballack, who has so far played only one and a half matches after coming back from injury. This means that Philipp Lahm will remain captain for at another two matches and the decision about Ballack's future has been pushed back by a month.

The squad contains 17 players who played the World Cup in South Africa plus three player who missed the tournament due to injury in Rene Adler, Heiko Westermann and Christian Traesch; and Sascha Riether as back-up right back. Missing due to injuries are Arne Friedrich, Jerome Boateng, Piotr Trochowski und Dennis Aogo, while defender Serdar Tasci has been left out due to lack of match practice and keeper Hans-Joerg Butt retired after the World Cup. Also missing will be the captain for the Denmark game last month in Thomas Hitzlsperger, who is also out injured.

The summer fairytale of the 2010 FIFA World Cup is over and now the focus shifts back again to the 2012 European Championship qualifiers. Germany first travel to Brussels to face Belgium on September 3 in a tricky opening game, while they then host Azerbaijan in Cologne on September 7.


GERMANY

Goalkeepers
1-Manuel Neuer (FC Schalke 04), 12-Tim Wiese (SV Werder Bremen), 22-Rene Adler (Bayer 04 Leverkusen)

Defenders
2-Marcell Jansen (Hamburger SV), 4-Sascha Riether (VfL Wolfsburg), 5-Heiko Westermann (Hamburger SV) , 14-Holger Badstuber (FC Bayern Munich), 16-Philipp Lahm (FC Bayern Munich), 17-Per Mertesacker (SV Werder Bremen)

Midfielders
6-Sami Khedira (Real Madrid), 7-Bastian Schweinsteiger (FC Bayern Munich), 8-Mesut Oezil (Real Madrid), 10-Lukas Podolski (1. FC Cologne), 13-Thomas Mueller (FC Bayern Munich), 18-Toni Kroos (FC Bayern Munich), 21-Marko Marin (SV Werder Bremen), 24-Christian Traesch (VfB Stuttgart)

Forwards
9-Stefan Kiessling (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), 11-Miroslav Klose (FC Bayern Munich), 19-Cacau (VfB Stuttgart), 23-Mario Gomez (FC Bayern Munich)

Ballack: Germany captain or retirement?

Germany play their first international friendly after the 2010 FIFA World Cup on Wednesday against Denmark in Copenhagen and due to the inappropriate date only seven members of the World Cup squad will make the trip north with all key players not part of the team. It gives national coach Joachim Loew the forced chance to have a look at his back-up.

But the match isn't the main talking point at the moment here in Germany. The discussions surrounding Michael Ballack and his future in the German national team is still grabbing headline news. Will Ballack remain captain, will he return as just another player and not captain, or will he in the end retire.

Ballack himself had said last week that he would like to continue to play up to the European Championships 2012 in Poland and the Ukraine. But Ballack has left the final decision to coach Loew, who will have to make a difficult decision ahead of Germany's first Euro2012 qualifier against Belgium on September 3. And for the moment Loew or manager Oliver Bierhoff are staying silent on the issue.

The general public expect Ballack to return to the squad in September for the qualifiers if he gets some games for Bayer 04 Leverkusen in the Bundesliga and Europa League under his belt, but some want to wait and see in what shape the (former) captain is before he is recalled. But then there are others who are saying outright that Ballack should retire and allow the young German team develop further.

And then there is Philipp Lahm, the stand-in captain at the World Cup for Ballack. The Bayern Munich wing back has reiterated again and again in the German media that he would like to remain captain as he is enjoying the added responsibility, but like Ballack he has said that the final decision rests with coach Loew.

It looks like this topic will keep on coming back in the public limelight until the final squad for the Belgium qualifier is announced. A topic which fills pages of newspapers over the summer break...

Lahm to captain Germany

Bayern Munich's Philipp Lahm was named as Germany captain for the upcoming 2010 FIFA World Cup yesterday. The 26 year old defender takes over from injured Michael Ballack and the decision by coach Joachim Loew ends days of speculation as besides Lahm the other candidates where his Bayern team mates Bastian Schweinsteiger and Miroslav Klose.

Lahm along with Schweinsteiger, Klose, Per Mertesacker (Werder Bremen) and Arne Friedrich (Hertha BSC Berlin) will be the players body during the tournament with which the coach will hold discussions. A special role will have to be played by Schweinsteiger, who will be Lahm's deputy and also take over the responsibilities from Ballack in central midfield. Schweinsteiger will be under special focus after a strong season for Bayern Munich.

"Lahm has played in his position with great class and will take over the role of captain," Germany coach Joachim Loew said at the team's training camp in south Tirol.

Lahm will be Germany's youngest ever World Cup captain and he will be leading a young German squad into the tournament. Lahm is an experienced international having already played 64 matches at his young age. Lahm was one of Germany's pillars in their 2006 World Cup campaign and I remember him scoring the opening goal of that World Cup for Germany against Costa Rica at the Allianz Arena in Munich. A goal to remember, now even more is expected by one of the world's best full backs.

The other awaited decision taken was that to name the German No. 1 for the World Cup. As goalkeeping coach Andreas Koepke said it wasn't an easy decision, then in the end it was decided that Schalke keeper Manuel Neuer will be Germany's goalkeeper for the tournament with Tim Wiese and Hans Joerg Butt as his deputies.

Germany isn't surely as strong as sides like Spain and Brazil, but it is a tournament side and is strong as a unit which could cause a few upsets. And in the last couple of World Cup's "die Mannschaft" has reached at least the semifinals.