The German national team boss, Joachim Löw, announced his thirty man preliminary squad today for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. There was a few surprises for fans as some big names were left out and many exciting youngsters included.

Löw explained his choices by saying;

“When picking the squad it was important for us to have the right mix of experience and carefreeness and freshness. Given the injuries and absences in the past few months it has not been an ideal situation for the national team. But we will rise to the challenges and we will find solutions and alternatives."

The main talking point was the injection of youth such as Leon Goretzka (19) Max Meyer (18), Erik Durm (21), Matthias Ginter (20), Shkodran Mustafi (22) and Kevin Volland (21). All these youngsters have had outstanding seasons and will look to impress in the upcoming friendlies to try and make the final cut. Last time Löw named a young squad was for the 2010 World Cup where they finished third. The next friendly for Germany is on the 13th of May against Poland; providing the perfect platform to shine on.

One of the most controversial aspects from Löw’s announcement has been the lack of forwards, most notably the exclusion of ‘The Hair’ aka Mario Gomez. The fox in the box has had an injury-ravaged season since moving to Italy’s Fiorentina from German champions, FC Bayern München last June. Löw said on his omission;

“He’s only played 280 minutes since September. The World Cup would have been too physically exhausting”.

Gomez responded on Facebook saying he was extremely disappointed and it has been the worst season of his career, missing out on the Championship, Cup Final and now the World Cup. By only playing a total of 891 minutes all season, it comes as no surprise Löw excluded Gomez, although it leaves him very short up front. Another notable exclusion was Gladbach’s Max Kruse. The twenty-six year old had a great last season and a fantastic Hinrunde, but has been somewhat off the boil in the Rückrunde. Despite recapturing his form recently, there was no place in either the World Cup thirty man squad or the squad against Poland on Tuesday. Löw explained his decision;

“We have too many players that can play his position. For example, Müller, Reus and Götze. Volland has made great progress this year, and we did not want to select Kruse for Poland and then drop him.”

The lack of traditional frontmen will mean Germany could lack a ‘Plan B’ in the big games if Klose struggles with his fitness. The veteran striker has also had problems this season causing him to miss seventeen games in all competitions directly due to injury. However, Löw was quick to brush aside any fears on the iconic forward;

"Klose always hits top form at tournaments. He was injured recently but we are convinced he can help the team. It will almost certainly be his last”.

The German boss also defended calling Sami Khedira up to the squad by explaining;

"Sami's worked really hard in training with the sole goal of making the World Cup. He's one of those really important players on and off the pitch. We're convinced we made the right decisions."

The Real Madrid player is another key member who has been injured this season after suffering a cruciate ligament rupture in November 2013. Since his six month injury lay off, Khedira has only just came back making the bench in the game against Valencia on the weekend (4th May).

The vast injuries aside, the most dumbfounded decision seemed to be the inclusion of Ron-Robert Zieler. The Hannover 96 keeper has had a fairly poor season, which has seen him make six mistakes, five of those leading to goals. In one of the most competitive areas for Germany, it certainly came as a surprise that Zieler made the cut especially with the likes of Leno, Fährmann, Ter Stegen, Trapp and Baumann all having fine seasons. In Löw’s favour he did announce last month that the second and third choice keeper was between Weidenfeller, Adler and Zieler, which was baffling even back then. Even though the third choice keeper rarely plays a game, it would have been wise to use either Ter Stegen, Bernd Leno or Ralf Fährmann. The experience those keepers would gain would be highly beneficial long term. In my honest opinion, and many others, Zieler should be much further down the pecking order. Löw commented on his chosen keepers by saying;

“Manuel Neuer and Roman Weidenfeller are very experienced. Ron-Robert Zieler is one for the future.”

Six of the thirty man squad are uncapped, those players are Durm, Mustafi, Goretzka, Hahn, Meyer and Volland. The highest capped player is 35 year old Mirsoslav Klose with 131 caps. The average age of the squad is just 25 years old. Löw will announce his final 23 man squad for the World Cup before the 2nd of June deadline.

Germany World Cup Preliminary Squad:

GOALKEEPERS
Manuel Neuer (Bayern München)
Roman Weidenfeller (Borussia Dortmund)
Ron-Robert Zieler (Hannover 96)

DEFENDERS
Jérôme Boateng (Bayern München)
Erik Durm (Borussia Dortmund)
Kevin Großkreutz (Borussia Dortmund)
Benedikt Höwedes (Schalke 04)
Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund)
Marcell Jansen (Hamburger SV)
Philipp Lahm (Bayern München)
Per Mertesacker (Arsenal)
Shkodran Mustafi (Sampdoria)
Marcel Schmelzer (Borussia Dortmund)

MIDFIELDERS
Lars Bender (Bayer Leverkusen)
Julian Draxler (Schalke 04)
Matthias Ginter (SC Freiburg)
Leon Goretzka (Schalke 04)
Mario Götze (Bayern München)
André Hahn (FC Augsburg)
Sami Khedira (Real Madrid)
Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern München)
Toni Kroos (Bayern München)
Max Meyer (Schalke 04)
Thomas Müller (Bayern München)
Mesut Özil (Arsenal)
Lukas Podolski (Arsenal)
Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund)
André Schürrle (Chelsea)

FORWARDS
Miroslav Klose (Lazio)
Kevin Volland (Hoffenheim)

Players based in Germany: 76%

Germany are in Group D for the World Cup along with Portugal, Ghana and USA. Their first game of the tournament will be against Portugal on the 16th of June. Beforehand, however, Germany have friendlies against Poland, Cameroon and Armenia. The friendly against Poland on the 13th of May will contain a very different squad full of youngsters and debutants as Löw has taken into account the DFB Pokal Final between Bayern and Dortmund. As the final is just five days later, the squad contains no Bayern or Dortmund players, so we will be treated to seeing many new faces. Of the 18 players selected, 12 of those are uncapped and the average age of the squad is just 22 years old. Those included in the squad against Poland are listed below:

Germany v Poland (13th May – in Hamburg):

GOALKEEPERS
Marc-André ter Stegen (Borussia Mönchengladbach)
Ron-Robert Zieler (Hannover 96)

DEFENDERS
Sebastian Jung (Eintracht Frankfurt)
Matthias Ginter (SC Freiburg)
Benedikt Höwedes (Schalke 04)
Shkodran Mustafi (Sampdoria)
Christian Günter (SC Freiburg)
Oliver Sorg (SC Freiburg)
Antonio Rüdiger (VfB Stuttgart)

MIDFIELDERS
Sebastian Rudy (Hoffenheim)
Max Meyer (Schalke 04)
André Hahn (FC Augsburg)
Julian Draxler (Schalke 04)
Lars Bender (Bayer Leverkusen)
Christoph Kramer (Borussia Mönchengladbach)
Leon Goretzka (Schalke 04)
Maximilian Arnold (VfL Wolfsburg)

FORWARDS
Kevin Volland (Hoffenheim)

Players based in Germany: 94%