Team: GERMANY

[Dragoen]

Tommorow is the day

I am really excited Löw said there will be some surprises in the nominations.

Sadly I won't be albe to watch it live because I will be on the train then driving to Hamburg. I will be away the whole weekend but I think Löw will do the right thing.

Surprise nominations might be: Dejagah from Wolfsburg he played a very good season for Wolfsburg and he can play as a striker or as lm/rm/om. Especially on the right side he might be needed after the injury of schneider. just remeber his goal against Bayern in the first half of the season. YouTube - Ashkan Dejagah Highlights 2007/08 Hinrunde

Marko Marin form Gladbach he played an amazing season. One of the reason Gladbach is back in the first league next season. He made 13 assists! and four goals and he is only 19 years old and he has something Özil and Kroos are lacking he is part of Gladbachs starting eleven. That is why his nomination is more propable then theirs. YouTube - Marko Marin in the match against Kaiserslautern

Toni Kroos don't think I need to say something about him. Would love to see him but I doubt it will happen. YouTube - Toni Kroos - The Future

Özil don't really need to say much about him either also very gifted YouTube - Mesut Özil - The Next Diego

Germanys midfield future looks promising.

Adler just Germanys best goalkeeper at the moment. If he gets nominated he will most likely take over the starting spot in the german goal right after the EC. YouTube - Rene Adler - Germany's Next Goalkeeper

Streit has been injured very long this season but was always one of the top assisters in the bundesliga the last years.

Steffen Hofmann now he might be the biggest surprise. He plays in the austrian league. I know it is not very good but he made 16 goals and 27! assists this season plus he is very popular in austria this would some more fans to our crowd.

[Trim]

Löw Not To Spring Many Surprises

German trainer Joachim Löw will announce his final squad tomorrow for this summer’s European Championships with few surprises in store as he loos to the successful group of players that cruised through the qualifiers and performed so well at the last World Cup.

There will certainly be some new names in the squad making their first appearance at a major finals, but by and large the Bundestrainer is not set to spring any major surprises when he makes public his final selection from the rather impressive location of the Zugspitze- Germany’s highest mountain.

His announcement in due early tomorrow afternoon but the speculation as to his final selection is already mounting.

One player with his fingers crossed that he makes it into the final 23 will be Schalke’s Kevin Kuranyi, who Jürgen Klinsmann rather surprisingly dropped from the 2006 World Cup squad in place of David Odonkor.

The other striking roles seem easy to predict with Miroslav Klose, Lukas Podolski and Mario Gomez almost guaranteed their spots. There is some speculation however that Mönchengladbach forward Oliver Neuville may be the fifth striker, although Stefan Kießling is perhaps a safer bet.

The midfield unit picks itself with captain Michael Ballack and Werder Bremen’s Thorsten Frings the key men. Bastian Schweinsteiger and Thomas Hitzlsperger should join them, but injury to Bernd Schneider has opened up an opportunity for Leverkusen team mate Simon Rolfes to hope for inclusion.

Clemens Fritz and Piotr Trochowski featured regularly in the qualifiers, but Tim Borowski is now back in the frame after returning from injury.

The major talking point surrounds the goalkeeper. Jens Lehmann was assured he would be first choice if he had regular action at Arsenal, but that didn’t happen. He still however is the favourite to start in goal. Timo Hildebrand remains the second choice, but many people in Germany are clambering for the inclusion of either Manuel Neuer or Rene Adler, who are seen as the future number ones in the national team.

In defence Christoph Metzelder looks set to be included after a long injury lay-off meaning tht somebody else will have to make way for the Real Madrid man.

"There will certainly be people who are disappointed" Low admitted. "Some people are going to get hurt."

Germany fly to Mallorca next week for a training camp which will be have two friendly internationals at home against Belarus and Serbia sandwiched in between.

They will then move to their Euro 2008 headquarters near Locarno in Switzerland from where Joachim Löw and his team will plot their challenge to become European champions.

Goal.com - Germany - Löw Not To Spring Many Surprises

[Trim]

Originally Posted by Dragoen

Sadly I won't be albe to watch it live because I will be on the train then driving to Hamburg. I will be away the whole weekend but I think Löw will do the right thing.

Who will show it live, ARD or ZDF? And, what time does it begin? I'm at home all day tomorrow, so I want to see it live.

[Oliver_Kahn]

It's going to be broadcasted on Eurosport as well btw, don't know what time though

[Dragoen]

ARD will broadcast Live from the nomination starting 13:15 GMT.

[Trim]

Originally Posted by Oliver_Kahn

It's going to be on Eurosport as well btw, don't know what time though

Cool. Just checked the programme of German Eurosport. It will be live from 13.00h (local time).

[__-SNAKE-__]

13.00 pm CET?

[Dragoen]

GMT Germany is in the same timezone as Malta.

[Trim]

Coach Joachim Löw has announced a 26 man squad for the Euro 2008. He will then trim it to 23. He has already stated that he should know his full pool of players by next Thursday.

All expected names. Only a few surprises: Timo Hildebrand has been left out, Rene Adler has been called instead. Marko Marin, the Gladbach youngster has also made the list. Check out the complete squad:

Goalkeepers

Jens Lehmann (Arsenal FC)
Robert Enke (Hannover 96)
Rene Adler (Bayer Leverkusen)

Defenders

Christoph Metzelder (Real Madrid)
Per Mertesacker (Werder Bremen)
Clemens Fritz (Werder Bremen)
Philipp Lahm (FC Bayern München)
Marcell Jansen (FC Bayern München)
Arne Friedrich (Hertha BSC Berlin)
Heiko Westermann (FC Schalke 04)

Midfielders

Michael Ballack (Chelsea FC)
Thomas Hitzlsperger (VfB Stuttgart)
Simon Rolfes (Bayer Leverkusen)
Torsten Frings (Werder Bremen)
Tim Borowski (Werder Bremen)
Bastian Schweinsteiger (FC Bayern München)
Piotr Trochowski (Hamburger SV)
Jermaine Jones (FC Schalke 04)
David Odonkor (Betis Sevilla)
Marko Marin (Borussia Mönchengladbach)

Attackers

Miroslav Klose (FC Bayern München)
Lukas Podolski (FC Bayern München)
Mario Gomez (VfB Stuttgart)
Kevin Kuranyi (FC Schalke 04)
Oliver Neuville (Borussia Mönchengladbach)
Patrick Helmes (1. FC Köln)

[Pat Murphy]

Why was Timo left out? Despite Valencia letting in about 1000 goals this season I've been quite impressed with him.

He's playing first team football for a big club and Lehmann is not.

[__-SNAKE-__]

I think he will remove, Helmes,Jones and Neuville(maybe), Low was never a Timo fan, glad Adler made it though.

[Trim]

Originally Posted by Pat Murphy

Why was Timo left out? Despite Valencia letting in about 1000 goals this season I've been quite impressed with him.

He's playing first team football for a big club and Lehmann is not.

I'm sure it's not wrong to say this season (at Valencia) was Timo's worst season ever. Not surprised he's been left out, especially with such tough competition.

[Oliver_Kahn]

No Kiessling? I'm surprised.

Good to see Adler there.

[hanuma]

Not got any really quality wingers. A tight midfield and overlapping fullbacks with Ballack given a free role. They'll go as far as their luck lasts as per usual.

[RunX]

Thats A GREAT Squad !!
But Ozil AND Kroos Must be in i think ... and timo also