[Ifroham4]

Jun 2, 2010
German WCup squad named


Germany's World Cup squad

Goalkeepers

Joerg Butt (Bayern Munich)
Manuel Neuer (Schalke)
Tim Wiese (Werder Bremen)

Defenders

Dennis Aogo (Hamburger SV)
Holger Badstuber (Bayern Munich)
Arne Friedrich (Hertha Berlin)
Jerome Boateng (Hamburger SV)
Marcell Jansen (Hamburger SV)
Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich)
Per Mertesacker (Werder Bremen)
Serdar Tasci (Stuttgart)

Midfielders

Sami Khedira (Stuttgart)
Toni Kroos (Bayer Leverkusen)
Marko Marin (Werder Bremen)
Mesut Oezil (Werder Bremen)
Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich)
Piotr Trochowski (Hamburger SV)

Forwards

Cacau (Stuttgart)
Mario Gomez (Bayern Munich)
Stefan Kiessling (Bayer Leverkusen)
Miroslav Klose (Bayern Munich)
Thomas Mueller (Bayern Munich)
Lukas Podolski (Cologne)


FRANKFURT (Germany) - Germany coach Joachim Loew has trimmed his World Cup squad to the final 23 players by dropping defender Andreas Beck.

The 23-year-old Hoffenheim defender has seven caps for Germany but was one of the players whose place had been considered unsafe. 'He had an average season,' Loew said. Loew will take to South Africa a young squad which is missing captain Michael Ballack and four other injured players.
Seven of Loew's players were still with the under-21 team last year, when it won the European Championship.

By dropping a defender, Loew kept six forwards for the tournament in South Africa. Germany opens its Group D campaign against Australia and also plays Serbia and Ghana.'I have enough possibilities in defense,' Loew said. Loew took 27 players to a training camp in northern Italy, but injuries forced Ballack, defender Heiko Westermann and midfielder Christian Traesch to drop out. Earlier, goalkeeper Rene Adler and midfielder Simon Rolfes also were forced to pull out with injuries. -- AP