German national soccer coach Joachim Loew on Friday called back tested old player for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Russia in Dortmund on Oct. 11 and Wales in Moenchengladbach four days later.
Captain Michael Ballack, Torsten Frings, Arne Friedrich, Jermaine Jones and goalkeeper Rene Adler are all back from injury and in the squad, which will gather in Dusseldorf on Tuesday to prepare for the first home games on the road to South Africa 2010.All five missed out on the previous two qualifiers in Liechtenstein (6-0) and Finland (3-3).
Loew is expecting great things from two players in particular: on-form Leverkusen striker Patrick Helmes and Schalke midfield dynamo Jermaine Jones.
"We have high hopes for Helmes in the future", the coach said, " he's got enormous potential, which has been on show for all to see over the past few weeks. Jermaine Jones has stood out as well, he's in great shape at the moment."
Alongside Hannover 96's Robert Enke, who has played all three games for Germany since Jens Lehmann retired from national duty, Loew has nominated Leverkusen's Rene Adler and Tim Wiese of Bremenas his keepers.
"Adler's comeback will be no surprise and Wiese has earned another chance - he's never failed to leave a good impression on us so far", Loew commented.
Christoph Metzelder, currently out of favor at Real Madrid, is not in the squad this time. Loew said of that, "We had a good talk about it, he's still a big part of our plans. But we agreed that due to a current lack of match practice he'd be better off at the moment dedicating himself to getting back into the team at Real Madrid."
Moenchengladbach's Marko Marin drops back down to the U-21s, who have a two-leg play-off with France for a place at the European Championships upcoming.
Source: Xinhua
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