International news: Steve Staunton has handed 21-year-old Seán St Ledger of Preston North End a surprise call-up to the squad for Saturday's European Championship qualifier against Germany in Stuttgart following the withdrawal from the squad of Birmingham City full back Stephen Kelly due to a calf strain.
The Birmingham-born defender, who has not previously represented Ireland at any level, arrived at Preston during the summer after four seasons at Peterborough and a loan spell at Stevenage. Birmingham City and Aston Villa had been linked with a move for him but none materialised and his current club paid around €330,000 to secure his services. He has played in all six of the Championship outfit's competitive games so far this season. Nicky Colgan has also been called up after Paddy Kenny was forced out of the travelling party because of a thigh strain.
German coach Joachim Loew has brought VfL Wolfsburg defender Alexander Madlung in to his squad following the withdrawal of Borussia Dortmund's Christoph Metzelder, who will have surgery on a knee injury tomorrow.
The loss of Metzelder means Loew is without four defenders from Germany's World Cup squad, with Per Mertesacker, Robert Huth and Jens Nowotny already ruled out, but the new coach was buoyed by captain Michael Ballack coming through all 90 minutes of Chelsea's 2-0 win at Blackburn on Sunday.
Ballack had missed Germany's friendly against Sweden earlier this month with a hip injury.
The Irish squad meet up in Dublin today, with all of the key players - Shay Given, Richard Dunne, Robbie Keane and Damien Duff - who missed the game against the Netherlands, coming through club games unscathed at the weekend.
