Torsten Frings has been ruled out of the first two games of the qualifying round for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Frings called up coach Joachim Löw on Sunday evening to report that he was unable to compete. Germany play Liechtenstein on Saturday, September 6 in Vaduz and Finland on Wednesday, September 10 in Helsinki

The midfielder is out due to a nasal bone fracture which he suffered in a collision during a basketball game at a publicity event of his club Werder Bremen on the island Spiekeroog. Frings underwent surgery in a hospital in Bremen.

Still doubtful for the games is Michael Ballack. The German skipper still has problems with his foot and he missed the match of his club FC Chelsea against Tottenham Hotspurs on Sunday.…

The German National Team has started their new season with a 2-0 victory against Belgium. In front of 34,117 visitors in Nuremberg’s World Cup arena, a penalty from Bastian Schweinsteiger and a coolly taken goal from youngster Marko Marin secured the win.

Schweinsteiger slotted his spot kick low into the net past goalkeeper Stijn Stijnen in the 59th minute after Danish referee Thomas Vejlgaard ruled Daniel van Buyten had fouled Mario Gomez.

With just 13 minutes left, substitute Marin exchanged passes with Philipp Lahm, skipped round a defender and curled a neat shot into the far corner in what was only the 19-year-old’s second appearance for his country. The amazing goal shows once again the promise that the young Marin holds for the future of German football. Watch out for the goal in the match highlights below.

Serdar Taci from VfB Stuttgart made his debut in the National Team and played for the whole match in defence alongside Heiko Westermann, turning in a credible performance to help keep a clean sheet.

“Considering it’s so early in the season it was good to see the ball moving around so rapidly,” Germany coach Joachim Loew said in a television interview. “We tried …

Germany won their third consecutive Olympics bronze medal but made heavy weather of it against never-say-die Japan with a hard-fought 2-0 victory in the womens football playoff at the Workers’ Stadium in Beijing on Thursday.

Fatmire Bajramaj proved the winning substitution coming on in the 60th minute and scoring twice late in the game to give the Germans third place in the tournament.

Bajramaj broke the deadlock nine minutes after coming on after Kerstin Garefrekes’ header was partially blocked by Japanese goalkeeper Miho Fukumoto. Bajramaj hooked in the rebound from a tight angle to finally crack the Japanese resistance.

And she was again on the spot when she fired home from close range with three minutes left to clinch victory. Germany have won bronze in their last two Games – they defeated Sweden in Athens in the third-place play-off and Brazil in Sydney in 2000.

The Germans missed their chance to play in the Beijing final when they were beaten 4-1 by Brazil in Tuesday’s semi-final in Shanghai.…

Bayern Munich hope last season’s Bundesliga top scorer Luca Toni will return from injury for Saturday’s match at Borussia Dortmund and inject some impetus into the German champions’ campaign.

The Bavarians could manage only a draw in their first match of the season last week at home to Hamburg SV and were clearly missing the Italy striker, who scored 24 goals in his debut season but has been sidelined by a calf muscle strain.

‘It’s looking very good for Luca,’ coach Juergen Klinsmann said on Bayern’s website.

‘We are hoping he’ll be back on board on Saturday and then things will look a bit different again.’

There was also some positive news about Bayern’s French international midfielder Franck Ribery, who was injured at Euro 2008 but should return to light training at the weekend, Klinsmann said.

The former Germany coach has had to cope with a raft of other injuries and midfielder Hamit Altintop and defender Martin Demichelis were also missing against Hamburg.

‘Of course we are lacking the presence on the pitch of these kinds of people, which in itself commands respect from opponents,’ Klinsmann said. ‘But that’s the way it is and we make the best of all …

Jens Lehmann announced his retirement from the German national team following a talk with DFB-coach Joachim Löw and goalkeepers coach Andreas Köpke on Friday. The 38-year old Lehmann was given his debut on February 18, 1998, in a game against the Emirate of Oman. His career encompassed 61 international appearances as well as three World Cups and three European Championships.

During the two-hour talk, Jens Lehmann and Joachim Löw agreed that the time has come for some of the younger talents to guard the German goal, especially looking forward to South Africa 2010. Following the meeting, Löw said: “We had a very good discussion. Evaluating the situation, we were on the exact same wavelength. I thanked Jens for his great career in our team. Fans will always remember his fantastic saves in our win over Argentina at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He also played a pivotal role at the EURO this year. He has done so much for German football, and I chose to consult him in the most important matters.”

Jens Lehmann said: “I could not give Joachim Löw any guarantees that I would extend my career beyond this one year, for which I have signed a contract …

Markus Rosenberg scored four goals and Hugo Almeida added three to help Werder Bremen crush fourth-division Eintracht Nordhorn 9-3 in the first round of the German Cup on Saturday, while a match involving Hannover was interrupted by clashes between rival fans.

Other top-division Bundesliga teams also advanced with big wins over lowly opposition.

Hannover crushed Hallescher FC 5-0 in a match that was interrupted for 10 minutes late in the game when fans started fighting. Police intervened to restore order before the match could be resumed. There were no reports of injuries or arrests. Arnold Brugging scored two goals for Hannover.

Ivica Olic had two goals and Paolo Guerrero scored one in Hamburger SV’s 3-1 win over second-division FC Ingolstadt. Marko Marin notched three in Borussia Moenchengladbach’s 8-1 thrashing of seventh-division Fichte Bielefeld.

Juergen Klopp had a successful official debut as coach of Borussia Dortmund when his new team beat fourth-division Rot-Weiss Essen 3-1 on goals from Tamas Hajnal, Florian Kringe and Nelson Valdez.…

Stuttgart director of sport Horst Heldt has spoken of his surprise at the way Bayern Munich general manager Uli Hoeness continues to court Mario Gomez.

Stuttgart rejected an offer from Bayern for the Germany striker this summer, declaring the issue closed, but Hoeness revealed recently that a lot of money had been put on the table.

He confirmed that Bayern would keep monitoring the situation and a repeat bid next year is likely, but Heldt cannot understand why Hoeness will not give up the ghost.

‘I find it quite strange that for weeks now he continues to speculate about it in public,’ Heldt told Sport Bild magazine.

‘Our decision has been taken and we are not interested in any sums that are being bandied around.

’25, 30 or 35 million (euros) – that does not play a role for us anymore.’

Hoeness claimed that Gomez was keen on joining Bayern and that an agreement with the player had been reached, but Stuttgart did not relent when they received a lucrative offer which would have broken the Bundesliga transfer record.…

Bayern Munich coach Jurgen Klinsmann is running out of options ahead of the start of the season with Martin Demichelis the latest player to suffer injury.

The Argentinian defender damaged his lower leg during Tuesday night’s 1-0 friendly defeat to Internazionale and was taken off as a precautionary measure in the first half.

However, tests carried out on Wednesday revealed the seriousness of the injury and Demichelis could miss up to a month.

‘It depends on how the healing process goes as to whether he is back in two, three or four weeks,’ revealed Klinsmann.

‘We are slowly getting a bit thin on the ground.’

Demichelis joins Tim Borowski, Hans-Jorg Butt, Luca Toni, Willy Sagnol and Franck Ribery in the treatment room, while Bastian Schweinsteiger is also a doubt for Sunday’s first competitive game of the season in the DFB-Pokal at Erfurt.

The Germany midfielder has the flu, although Klinsmann believes it ‘is possible that he can play on Sunday.’

Klinsmann told the club’s website: ‘That depends on his fitness values.’

With Breno and Jose Ernesto Sosa in action at the Olympic Games, Klinsmann is potentially without nine members of his squad this weekend.

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