Ahead of the international friendlies against France (Paris, Stade de France, Friday, November 13) and the Netherlands (Hannover, HDI-Arena, Tuesday, November 17), German national team coach Joachim “Jogi” Low has invited 25 players to Munich to prepare for the matches, and for various marketing activities of the team.
Low has invited only two players from the Premiere League for the last two matches of the year, Manchester United’s Bastian Schweinsteiger and the FC Liverpool’s Emre Can. Mesut Özil of Arsenal London hasn’t been invited in order to rest, but he’ll be in Munich for the promotional dates of the team. The same applies to Toni Kroos of Real Madrid. Marco Reus of Borussia Dortmund and midfielder Karim Bellarabi of Bayer Leverkusen will miss the matches beause of injuries.
In other interesting news about the Elf, 31-year-old Besiktas Istanbul attacker Mario Gomez has been invited to play for German for the first time in fourteen months (he played last against Argentina, Germany lost 2:4). Low said that Gomez is still a player that “can make the difference”.
Goalie Kevin Trapp of Paris Saint Germaine and Leroy Sane of the FC Schalke 04 are the only newcomers invited to the matches against France and Holland.