Forwards:
Germany has very few good forwards and most of the top-scorers were born in foreign countries. Miroslav Klose is the only successful striker on the German team. However, he has struggled this season as he only had one goal and is no longer a starter on his club team. Mario Gomez (8 club-goals this season, 24 last season with Stuttgart) is heating up with his new club Bayern Munich. His national team career has been a disaster as he failed to score and was invisible most of the games. Stefan Kiessling and Patrick Helmes are the less experienced ones (international) in the forefront and have hardly had any chances to showcase their skills.
Lukas Podolski (spinal disk) is injured, but Loew trusts him. Podolski has been showing poor form with weak performances on his club team only scoring one goal in 16 appearances. However, he will be a factor for the final roster due to his successful past scoring 37 goals in 69 international games. Claudemir Jeronimo Barretto known as “Cacau” missed the test due to a groin-injury and may not make the final 22 man roster. Loew will likely start Klose and Gomez for testing, but will rely on Podolski and Klose in the end.
Forwards:
Mario Gomez (24), (FC Bayern)– one of the best German forwards if he’s playing with his team Bayern Munich. As a player on the German national team Gomez has been a total bust.
Patrick Helmes (25), (Leverkusen)– after an injury (just 3 matches this season) Helmes is right on track and scored a hat-trick in a friendly match (he scored 21 goals last season)
Stefan Kiessling (25), (Leverkusen)– At the moment he is Germanys best forward and should see some playing time, if Loew cleans his stubborn mind. Kiessling scored 12 goals and 5 assists with his club this season.
Miroslav Klose (31), (FC Bayern)– he had a long ‘dry spell’ with Munich, but on the national team he is very successful and always a threat to opponents defence. Klose gives 110% every game.
Potential Call-ups:
Lukas Podolski (24) (Köln) battling spinal disk injury
Claudemir Jeronimo Barretto (28), (VfB Stuttgart) battling groin injury
For a more in depth look at the entire roster please click on the links below.
OVERVIEW
GOAL
DEFENCE
MIDFIELD
- Tjaden F. Bricout - RotoKingdom Staff Writer