Weakened German squad for World Cup warm-up in Poland

Germany coach Joachim Loew on Thursday named a weakened 18-man squad for a World Cup warm-up match against Poland next week. "There are a few players missing but there's no emergency," said Loew, who was unable to select players from Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund who play each other in the German Cup final in Berlin on May 17. Also absent for Tuesday's friendly in Hamburg will be Arsenal trio Per Mertesacker, Lukas Podolski and Mesut Ozil, set for action in the English FA Cup final against Hull. Sami Khedira misses out with Real Madrid in the last day of La Liga action, the same reason for Lazio striker Miroslav Klose in Italy's Serie A. Hoffenheim striker Kevin Volland is one of 10 players named to face Poland who featured in Loew's 30-strong World Cup pre-selection squad, announced earlier Thursday. Among the other eight players named for the outing in Hamburg, only goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen has been capped, having already played once for Germany in an international. Germany squad for Poland friendly (* signifies players also named in 30-man World Cup pre-selection squad) Goalkeepers: Ron-Robert Zieler *(Hanover), Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Moenchengladbach) Defenders: Sebastian Jung (Frankfurt), Matthias Ginter* (Friburg), Christian Guenter (Friburg), Benedikt Hoewedes* (Schalke), Shkodran Mustafi* (Sampdoria/ITA), Antonio Ruediger (Stuttgart), Oliver Sorg (Friburg) Midfielders: Maximilian Arnold (Wolfsburg), Sebastian Rudy (Hoffenheim), Lars Bender* (Leverkusen), Julian Draxler* (Schalke), Leon Goretzka* (Schalke), Andre Hahn* (Augsburg), Christoph Kramer (Moenchengladbach), Max Meyer* (Schalke) Striker: Kevin Volland* (Hoffenheim) Source: AFP