European Cup Qualifying: Ballack Cut From Germany Squad

Ballack Fails To Make Germany Squad.

Joachim Loew has today announced his squad for the upcoming European Cup Qualifying matches against Belgium and Azerbaijan, and experienced midfield general Michael Ballack has failed to make Loew’s squad.

After Ballack’s comments about wrestling the national team captaincy back from Philipp Lahm, he has become a bit of a disturbance in what has become a very united national team dressing room. The rise of Sami Khedira and Bastian Schweinsteiger means that Ballack’s place in the team is under serious threat. Khedira’s energy and passing ability, as well as his strong tackling and late bursts into the opposition box makes him a dangerous player for Germany, and a player Germany cannot afford to lose. Schweinsteiger has essentially guaranteed himself a place for the foreseeable future, after being both an excellent playmaker and a dynamic box-to-box midfielder who provided a lot of pace and passing ability to the German national team.

Ballack’s rather bullish attitude in being able to walk back into the German national team and retain the captain’s armband has been met with a firm hand by Joachim Loew, who has decided to rule Michael Ballack out of his latest squad. Is Ballack’s national team future over for good? Comments below!

Rene Adler has returned to the fray, as has Heiko Westermann and Christian Traesch, who were all ruled out of the World Cup due to injury.

Here’s the German squad in full:

GK: Neuer, Adler, Wiese  DEF: Lahm, Westermann, Mertesacker, Jansen, Riether, Badstuber  MID: Traesch, Mueller, Podolski, Khedira, Schweinsteiger, Ozil, Kroos, Marin  ATT: Cacau, Klose, Kiessling, Gomez