national team dramaz with a side of tragedy and a rich sauce of double standards...

[txorakeriak]

Now that the Bundesliga season is about to come to an end and the most important question (meaning whether Bayern or Schalke would win the league) has been more or less answered, the German press is looking for new dramaz and was eagerly provided by the national team.

1. Tragedy struck in Leverkusen, where René Adler has to undergo a second rib operation and will therefore miss the World Cup. Now Jogi Löw has to look for a third goalkeeper for his squad (most likely Bayern München's Jörg Butt, but Roman Weidenfeller of Borussia Dortmund is an option also), while Manuel Neuer and Tim Wiese will be fighting for the #1 spot.
   
   What do you think? Who would you like to see in Germany's goal during the World Cup, and who shall be third goalkeeper?
   
   
2. Simon Rolfes had to refuse the invitation for the World Cup due to health reasons. He was operated for articular cartilage damage at the end of January and had to walk on crutches for eight weeks until he could start light muscular training. He will start running again at the end of May, but the World Cup is coming too soon. He won't be able to train and play properly until the new season starts.
   
   As Löw refuses to call up Torsten Frings again (no matter what happens, Frings is not being planned with anymore), Rolfes' injury leaves the coach with only Khedira, Gentner, Träsch, Hitzlsperger and Schweinsteiger for the defensive midfield.
   
   
3. Thomas Hitzlsperger tried to end his reserve status and save his World Cup ticket by transferring to Lazio, but it didn't quite work out. How should it have, I ask, when Lazio was fighting against relegation and Hitzlsperger (with all due respect) isn't a messiah? In the end, he only managed to get four Serie A caps (none over full time), and didn't play in seven weeks until he was finally subbed in again last Sunday against Inter. Ironically, he was one of the best field players of his team, but the Lazio fans actually celebrated Inter's 2-0 victory because it meant that local rivals AS Roma wouldn't win the Scudetto.
   
   It's highly unlikely that he'll play in the defensive midfield next to Michael Ballack, and the alternatives Khedira and Träsch are too inexperienced. Gentner played 33 games this season, all of them in the starting line-up, and 12 Champions League and Europa League matches, and had a very solid season, but he has only played four matches for the national team.
   
   Still, none of these is the hard-edged, tough defender that Torsten Frings was during the last World Cup, one of the many reasons why Germany got that far. And even though I don't want Frings back (he might have played a decent season for Werder but his last performances for the national team were abysmal), I think that if anything, Gentner (or Hitzlsperger) should be on the bench as a potential substitute for Schweinsteiger, who in my opinion should play in the defensive midfield rather than on the right side or anywhere else.
   
   
4. Jogi Löw has finally (and conclusively) decided not to call up Kevin Kuranyi to the World Cup. This ends a long period of speculation from all sides, as well as Kuranyi's childhood dream of playing a World Cup (he wasn't called up for the 2006 World Cup either). Löw's reason was that Kuranyi doesn't fit into the squad tactically, and he said that the disciplinarian incident (Kuranyi left the DFB team on his own account due to frustration about not being considered for the World Cup qualifier against Russia in Dortmund in 2008) didn't play a part in the decision.
   
   Kuranyi scored 18 goals for Schalke this season, and is currently the second best striker in the Bundesliga (behind Stefan Kießling, who scored 21 goals). Therefore, many experts had predicted a comeback of the former Stuttgart player, but if you mind the (rather childish) vehemence with which Löw has been refusing to reconsider his decision from the beginning, I don't think that a change of mind (meaning a second chance for Kuranyi) was actually possible, even if Kuranyi had scored 40 goals. Which is one of the many reasons why I think Löw needs to go before he ruins everything with his damned pride. Kuranyi has apologised and stated to deeply regret what he did in 2008. And just for the record, Lukas Podolski slapped the captain's face (on the pitch during a match) and received lots of (rather undeserved) further call-ups instead of a ban.

On Thursday at 12am, Löw wants to present the extended squad list at the Mercedes-Benz museum in Stuttgart. The final decision which 23 players to take to South Africa will be made during the training camp in South Tyrol on June 1st 2010.

Thoughts? Opinions?

I personally thought that it couldn't get any worse, but with these news in mind, I may just as well go and buy myself a Spanish flag, for considering my luck Löw will be national team coach for a very long time. *rolls eyes*