Germany coach Joachim Loew will be without three of his four World Cup central defenders for the start of the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign on September 2nd against the Republic of Ireland.
Injuries to Per Mertesacker, Robert Huth and Jens Nowotny will force Loew to rebuild his defence. Christoph Metzelder, who missed Germany's 3-0 victory over Sweden in a friendly last week, will, however, be back in the 20-man squad.
"We've certainly got some problems with our central defence," said Loew, who opted not to nominate any new players for the first two Euro qualifiers in the first week of September.
The manager will also have captain Michael Ballack back in midfield after the Chelsea player had missed the Sweden friendly with a hip injury.
"These two players are enormously important for us," said Loew referring to Ballack and Metzelder. "We assume Michael will be able to return to training soon. I talked with Christoph (Metzelder) on the phone and he expects to be back in training by the start of next week."
The only new face will be Loew's new assistant coach, Hansi Flick, who was hired yesterday to fill the post that Loew had held under Juergen Klinsmann the last two years. Loew was promoted after Klinsmann stepped down after the World Cup in July.
Loew has stuck loyally by the squad that finished third in Germany under Klinsmann, saying they all deserved to be included on the basis of their performances at the tournament.
That is good news for VfB Stuttgart's Thomas Hitzlsperger and VfL Wolfburg's Mike Hanke, who have struggled and are no longer first choices at their clubs. It is also fortunate for Lukas Podolski, who has been off form at his new club Bayern Munich.
Because of the injuries to Mertesacker and Huth, Loew had nominated Manuel Friedrich from Mainz and Hertha Berlin's Malik Fathi for the Sweden match and they both played in the second half.
Berlin's Arne Friedrich, normally a right back, was shifted to central defence against Sweden and did a solid job. Both Manuel Friedrich and Fathi will again be in the squad for the match against Ireland in Stuttgart.
Germany then play on September 6th in Serravalle against San Marino in their next qualifier.
German Squad:
Goalkeepers: 1-Jens Lehmann (Arsenal), 23-Timo Hildebrand (VfB Stuttgart)
Defenders: 3-Arne Friedrich (Hertha Berlin), 25-Malik Fathi (Hertha Berlin), 24-Manuel Friedrich (Mainz), 2-Marcell Jansen (Borussia Moenchengladbach), 16-Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich), 21-Christoph Metzelder (Borussia Dortmund)
Midfielders: 13-Michael Ballack (Chelsea), 7-Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich), 18-Tim Borowski (Werder Bremen), 8-Torsten Frings (Werder Bremen), 19-Bernd Schneider (Bayer Leverkusen), 22-David Odonkor (Borussia Dortmund), 15-Thomas Hitzlsperger (VfB Stuttgart)
Forwards: 14-Gerald Asamoah (Schalke 04), 9-Mike Hanke (VfL Wolfsburg), 11-Miroslav Klose (Werder Bremen), 20 Lukas Podolski (Bayern Munich), 10-Oliver Neuville (Borussia Moechengladbach)
