As the Frauen-Bundesliga takes a short break for the international fixtures, Germany and Silvia Neid have called up 23 players for their upcoming EURO 2017 qualifiers against Turkey (April 8th) and Croatia (April 12th).
Notable absences
The squad has many regular names who also featured for the national team at the SheBelieves Cup earlier this year, as Neid continues to narrow down to her final squad for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Most notably, there seems to be no place for Lena Lotzen, Pauline Bremer or Lina Magull. The former two are still recovering full match fitness as they return from long-term injuries, while Magull seems to have fallen out of favour with Neid.
Neid reflects on upcoming matches
Silvia Neid spoke to the official national team website ahead of these two qualifiers, reflecting on their previous near upset by Croatia. Neid stated that she wanted the team to approach these games with "full concentration" and for her players to play with "passion and desire" throughout.
Germany top their qualifying group, Group 5, with four wins out of four so far and have yet to concede a goal during this period. 16 teams will take part in EURO 2017 which is being held in the Netherlands, with the eventual eight group winners and the six best runners-up all getting direct qualification to the tournament. The rest will go through a play-off scenario to qualify.
Germany squad in full
Goalkeepers: Almuth Schult (VfL Wolfsburg), Laura Benkarth (SC Freiburg), Lisa Weiß (SGS Essen).
Defenders: Josephine Henning (Arsenal), Saskia Bartusiak (1. FFC Frankfurt), Leonie Maeir (Bayern Munich), Annike Krahn (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Kathrin Hendrich (1. FFC Frankfurt), Babett Peter (VfL Wolfsburg), Tabea Kemme (Turbine Potsdam), Anna Blässe (VfL Wolfsburg).
Midfielders: Simone Laudehr (1. FFC Frankfurt), Melanie Behringer Bayern Munich), Sara Däbritz (Bayern Munich), Melanie Leupolz (Bayern Munich), Isabel Kerschowski (VfL Wolfsburg), Svenja Huth (Turbine Potsdam), Lena Goeßling (VfL Wolfsburg), Sara Doorsoun (SGS Essen).
Forwards: Mandy Islacker (1. FFC Frankfurt), Dzsenifer Marozsán (1. FFC Frankfurt), Anja Mittag (Paris Saint-Germain), Alexandra Popp (VfL Wolfsburg).