Mario Gomez Back In National Team As Joachim Löw Nominates New Squad

Germany coach Joachim Löw has nominated a new squad for two international matches next week. The list is made up of one or two old faces that are sure to have benefited from some recent national team retirements.



A few old faces, and a host of freshly-crowned World Cup winners, will make up Germany's new squad for next week's two internationals, due to take place in Dusseldorf and Dortmund.



Of the three returning players, the biggest surprise is arguably Mario Gomez. The former Bayern and Stuttgart striker, who now plays in Italy's Serie A league with Fiorentina, last played for the German national team in August 2013. The international retirement of Miroslav Klose is sure to have helped Gomez's chances, as well as a promising start in Italy's domestic competition this season.



Stuttgart defender Antonio Rüdiger is also back in the team, boosted by the recent retirement of Per Mertesacker. Marco Reus has also been nominated by Löw, after injuring himself badly ahead of the World Cup. Otherwise the 21-man-squad includes 18 of the World Cup-winning German squad.



Bastian Schweinsteiger and Shkodran Mustafi are the notable omissions, who were not included in Joachim Löw's squad due to ongoing injury concerns. Recent national team retirees, Philipp Lahm, Miroslav Klose and Per Mertesacker are due to be officially farewelled before the first game.



The 21 players will take part in two matches together starting next Wednesday (03.09.2014) when Germany play Argentina in Dusseldorf in an international friendly, in a replay of the World Cup final in Brazil. Four days later Germany will head to Dortmund, where they will meet Scotland in their first qualifying match for the 2016 European Championships.



The full squad



Goalkeepers: Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Roman Weidenfeller (Dortmund), Ron-Robert Zieler (Hannover)



Defenders: Jerome Boateng (Bayern Munich), Erik Durm (Dortmund), Matthias Ginter (Dortmund), Kevin Grosskreutz (Dortmund), Benedikt Höwedes (Schalke), Mats Hummels (Dortmund), Antonio Rüdiger (Stuttgart)



Midfielders/Forwards: Julian Draxler (Schalke), Mario Gomez (Fiorentina), Mario Götze (Bayern Munich), Christoph Kramer (Mönchengladbach), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), Sami Khedira (Real Madrid), Thomas Müller (Bayern Munich), Mesut Özil (Arsenal), Lukas Podolski (Arsenal), Marco Reus (Dortmund), Andre Schürrle (Chelsea)



al/ng (dpa, SID)