Ins and outs
May 12, 2011
Germany have announced a 23-man squad for a handful of upcoming international football fixtures, gifting a chance to Borussia Mönchengladbach youngster Marco Reus, but again omitting former national team captain Michael Ballack.
Reus, 21, has enjoyed a startling end to this year's Bundesliga season, helping his relegation-threatened club to four wins in their last five outings, and leaving Gladbach with a fighting chance of avoiding the drop in the last fixture of the season this coming weekend.
"Obviously I am very honored and proud to finally be part of the team," Reus told reporters.
Germany coach Joachim Löw said Reus has had an "interesting development" since shooting to prominence for his club. "He deserved a call up after playing very well in the past weeks and being very dangerous up front," said Löw.
The midfielder has hit 10 goals this season and stands a decent chance of making his first on-field appearance for Die Mannschaft when they host Uruguay on May 29, followed by Euro qualifiers against Austria and Azerbaijan on June 3 and 7.
Ballack's end?
Perhaps unsurprisingly, fragile Bayer Leverkusen midfielder and former Germany captain Michael Ballack was left out of the squad after a season in which he spent consecutive months in rehabilitation following injury.
"Michael is not nominated for the coming three games. The decision was discussed with him. We had been in constant contact and we had a meeting in late March as well," Löw said in a statement, signaling perhaps that the former Chelsea middle-man's international career may be at an end.
Also included on the squad list were standout Schalke keeper Manuel Neuer, Real Madrid duo Mesut Özil and Sami Khedira, and a host of players from this season's Bundesliga champions Borussia Dortmund, including Mats Hummels, Marcel Schmelzer, Sven Bender and Mario Götze.
Bayern Munich were also well represented, with national team regulars Philipp Lahm, Thomas Müller, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Mario Gomez and Miroslav Klose returning to action.
Germany sit atop Group A on 15 points after five Euro qualifiers. Belgium are in second on 10 points after six games, while Turkey have nine points in their quest to reach the Euro 2012 finals in Poland and Ukraine.
Author: Darren Mara (Reuters, dpa)
Editor: Martin Kuebler