Injuries to the likes of captain Michael Ballack and defender Hieko Westermann have made Joachim Löw’s job of trimming Germany’s provisional squad much easier, though the Nationalmannschaft coach would much rather have difficult decisions if it means getting his stars healthy. But having named Philipp Lahm captain and moved on from the players who will not be in South Africa, Löw needed only one cut, defender Andreas Beck, to finalize his team for the 2010 World Cup.
Andreas Beck The Last Cut As Joachim Loew, Ailing Germany Finalize 23-Man World Cup 2010 Roster
The 23-year-old defender was coach Joachim Löw’s only cut from the German national team, who had already lost Ballack, Westermann, goalkeeper René Adler, and midfielders Simon Rolfes and Christian Traesch to injury.
Germany is left with eight defenders, though it remains to be seen who fills Westermann’s place starting with Lahm, Per Metesacker and presumedly Jerome Boateng. Hamburg’s Dennis Aogo, Bayern Munich’s Holdger Badstuber, and Stuttgart’s Serdar Tasci are candidates to fill the void, with Marcell Jansen and Arne Friedrich rounding-out Löw’s defending options.
In goal, Manuel Neuer will take the starting position vacated by Adler, with Jörg Butt and Tim Wiese as back-ups.
Germany will take six forwards to South Africa, including four lead strikers for a 4-5-1 formation. Those four strikers: Cacau, Mario Gómez, Stefan Kießling and Miroslav Klose. The two other forwards, Thomas Müller and Lukas Podolski, are capable of playing wide roles, with Podolski likely to start on the left wing.
It’s in midfield where Germany has suffered the bulk of their injuries, further complicating Löw’s omissions of Torsten Frings and Thomas Hitzlsperger from the provisional squad. The team is left with Bastian Schweinsteiger, Sami Khedira, Toni Kroos, Mesut Ozil, Piotr Trochkowski and Marko Marin.
Germany is the seeded team in what is generally thought to be the most difficult group: Group D. The other members of the quartet are Ghana, Serbia, and Australia, against whom the Germans open the World Cup.
Final Rosters
Goalkeepers
Butt, Hans-Jörg (Bayern Munich)
Neuer, Manuel (Schalke)
Wiese, Tim (Werder Bremen)
Defenders
Aogo, Dennis (Hamburg)
Badstuber, Holger (Bayern Munich)
Boateng, Jerome (Hamburg)
Friedrich, Arne (Hertha Berlin)
Jansen, Marcell (Hamburg)
Lahm, Philipp (Bayern Munich)
Mertesacker, Per (Werder Bremen)
Tasci, Serdar (Stuttgart)
Midfielders
Khedira, Sami (Stuttgart)
Kroos, Toni (Bayer Leverkusen)
Marin, Marko (Werder Bremen)
Özil, Mesut (Werder Bremen)
Schweinsteiger, Bastian (Bayern Munich)
Trochkowski, Piotr (Hamburg)
Forwards
Cacau (Stuttgart)
Gómez, Mario (Bayern Munich)
Kießling, Stefan (Bayer Leverkusen)
Klose, Miroslav (Bayern Munich)
Müller, Thomas (Bayern Munich)
Podolski, Lukas (Koln)
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