Löw cuts squad from 27 to 23

Germany head coach Löw was faced with the difficult decision of finalising his 23-man squad this week. The players who missed out on being on the plane to the Euros were Sven Bender of Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Julian Draxler of Schalke 04, Cacau of VfB Stuttgart and Borussia Mönchengladbach’s Marc-André ter Stegen. Ter Stegen was in goal for the 5-3 friendly defeat to Switzerland last week, and Löw has decided to stick with Zieler. He and Tim Wiese, soon to be joining TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, ill provide back up to Germany no. 1 Manuel Neuer of FC Bayern Munich.

Germany squad for Euro 2012

Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Tim Wiese (Werder Bremen/ TSG 1899 Hoffenheim), Ron-Robert Zieler (Hannover 96) – Holger Badstuber (Bayern Munich), Jerome Boateng (Bayern Munich), Benedikt Höwedes (Schalke 04), Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund), Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich), Per Mertesacker (Arsenal), Marcel Schmelzer (Borussia Dortmund) - L. Bender (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Mario Götze (Borussia Dortmund), Ilkay Gündogan (Borussia Dortmund), Sami Khedira (Real Madrid), Toni Kroos (Bayern Munich), Thomas Müller (Bayern Munich), Mesut Özil (Real Madrid), Lukas Podolski (1. FC Köln/ Arsenal), Marco Reus (Borussia Mönchengladbach/ Borussia Dortmund), André Schürrle (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich) – Mario Gomez (Bayern Munich), Miroslav Klose (SS Lazio) 

Sobiech rewarded

Poland coach Franciszek Smuda has also seen fit to bring in Reds’ striker Artur Sobiech to his definitive squad for the Euros. He 21-year-old missed the friendly with Slovakia at the weekend, but was on the scoresheet against Latvia in the previous game.

We wish both Ron-Robert Zieler and Artur Sobiech a successful tournament! 

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