Bayer Leverkusen’s René Adler guards the German goal in the upcoming friendly against South Africa in Leverkusen on September 5, 2009. Four days later, Hannover 96-keeper Robert Enke takes over when the DFB-team faces Azerbaijan in a game of the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying round, scheduled for Hanover on September 9. Coach Joachim Löw announced his nominations for the next two international games today.

Löw and Andreas Köpke, the goalkeeping coach for the national team, are determined to rotate goalkeepers throughout the remainder of 2009. In case Germany avoids dropping into second place, which then would trigger a playoff, the German team meets Chile on November 14 in Cologne and Egypt on November 18 in Gelsenkirchen. Bremen’s Tim Wiese’s name is pencilled in for the Cologne date, Schalke’s Manuel Neuer would field the position in Gelsenkirchen.

Köpke says: “If everything proceeds according to plan, each one of our four candidates should get a fair shot playing at least one full game.” Joachim Löw adds: “The decision which goalkeeper receives the nod for the games against Russia in Moscow and Finland in Hamburg, will be on short notice. Our target remains unchanged. We want to finish first in our group.”…

Germany have booked their tickets for the quarterfinal of the European Championship in Finland after thrashing France in their second tie of Group B 5-1 (3-0) and keeping a flawless record of two wins in as many matches.

After nine minutes Inka Grings headed home the first goal after a cross by Birgit Prinz. Central defender Annike Krahn doubled the lead only seven minutes later, when she surprised French goalie Sarah Bouhaddi with a cross-like shot from just outside the penalty area. “I didn’t really knew, what to do with the ball. So I just shot – and it worked out fine”, Krahn said with a smile afterwards.

Behringer scores just before, Bresonik just after the break

Even though the French tried hard to pull one back, it was Germany again who scored just before half-time. Melanie Behringers’s free-kick passed through defenders and strikers to make it 3-0 (45.).

Just after the break, Sonia Bompastor handled the ball inside her own area, Linda Bresonik made it 4-0 from the following penalty (47.). But France got, what they deserved, when Gaetane Thivey cut the German lead to three only minutes later (51.).

After Thivey hit the crossbar 17 minutes from…

Marcell Jansen has withdrawn from Germany’s friendly match against South Africa in Leverkusen (5th September) and the qualifying match for World Cup 2010 against Azerbaijan in Hannover (9th September).

The defender suffers from a strained knee ligament, an injury he sustained while training with his club Hamburger SV prior to their 5:1-win against french team EA Guingamp in the qualification for Europa League. The 30-times-capped international is expected to be out for about two weeks.

[DFB.de]

Saturday:

Bayern Munich are still without a win in the new Bundesliga season after they lost 2-1 at Mainz.

Both sides went into the game at the Bruchweg Stadion off the back of draws in their opening two games.

And it was Mainz who registered their first win. The home side were 2-0 up at the break as Andreas Ivanshitz (25) and Aristide Bance (37) fired home.

Nikolce Noveski’s own goal just after the break gave Bayern some hope, but Louis van Gaal’smen could not find an equaliser.

Bayer Leverkusen moved to the top of the table on goal difference after a resounding 5-0 win at Freiburg.

Stefan Kiessling opened the scoring after 36 minutes, before Bayer powered their way to victory in the second half.

Tranquillo Barnetta (47 & 75) and Eren Derdiyok (70 & 84) both grabbed braces to seal a comprehensive victory.

Borussia Dortmund and Stuttgart are both on four points after three games following their 1-1 draw at the Signal Iduna Park.

Borussia took the lead on the half-hour mark through Nelson Valdez, but Stuttgart secured a share of the spoils thanks to Georg Niedermaier’s second-half efffot.

Hannover grabbed their opening victory of the season with…

Hannover coach Dieter Hecking has resigned from the club after a meeting with club bosses on Wednesday.

Hecking had come under fire since Hannover were knocked out of the DFB-Pokal in the first round by fourth-division opponents Eintracht Trier earlier this month while they have failed to win either of their first two Bundesliga matches.

Calls for him to be sacked increased in volume during Saturday’s 1-1 draw against Mainz and Hecking, despite saying just 10 days ago that he would never throw in the towel, offered his resignation today.

Club president Martin Kind and director of sport Jorg Schmadtke accepted his decision and will now begin their search for a new coach.

“This development hits me very hard personally,” admitted Kind. “I have known and admired Dieter Hecking as a special person and coach.

“After a difficult season, we wanted to lead into a successful new beginning together, but this has not happened.”

Nevertheless, Kind thanked Hecking for his work at the club over the past three years following his arrival from Alemannia Aachen.

He led Hannover to safety in his first year in charge before achieving an eighth-placed finish in 2008, which was their highest position since returning…

Bayern Munich were prepared to sell Frank Ribery for €100m, according to general manager Uli Hoeness.

The France midfielder was strongly linked with a move to Real Madrid this summer, the Spanish giants keen to make him their fourth galacticos signing following the arrivals of Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema.

Bayern have, though, managed to hold on to their most prized asset, who earlier this week confirmed he would be staying at the club.

But Hoeness revealed on Wednesday the Bayern hierarchy had made up their minds to deal for €100m.

He told Sport Bild: “Internally we said yes, from €100m we’ll deal. Also that was a defensive measure. We did not think anyone would pay that. We wanted to keep Franck.

“One week before the expiry of our internal deadline we said that to him personally. Therefore he knew that interested clubs still had a week to offer the €100m.”

Hoeness admitted there was one day when he thought the valuation would be met.

“Someone said to me there would be an offer of 100m euros coming – but not from Real,” he added. “I had a very bad day. I felt an emptiness in myself, because I…

Werder Bremen have re-signed striker Claudio Pizarro from Chelsea, the London club have confirmed.

The Peruvian has returned at the Weserstadion after enjoying a successful loan spell there last term.

A statement on Chelsea’s official website read: “Claudio Pizarro has today signed a permanent deal with Werder Bremen. All at the club wish Claudio well for the future.”

Pizarro, who also spent two years at Bremen earlier in his career, helped them win the DFB Pokal and reach the final of the UEFA Cup.

Bremen ended in a disappointing 10th place in the league, but Pizarro impressed with 17 goals.

The 30-year-old returned to Stamford Bridge at the end of the campaign, but appeared to have little chance of first-team football with Nicolas Anelka, Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou for competition.

Pizarro, who did not feature in boss Carlo Ancelotti’s squad for their opening 2-1 win over Hull on Saturday, reportedly flew to Bremen on Monday night to seal the transfer.

Pizarro joined Chelsea in summer 2007 on a free transfer from Bayern Munich.

He scored on his debut for the Blues, but soon found himself out of the picture as the manager who signed him, Jose Mourinho, left the…

Hertha Berlin coach Lucien Favre is keen to bring Liverpool striker Andriy Voronin back to the German capital.

The Ukrainian enjoyed a successful loan spell with Hertha last season, his goals helping them secure a fourth-placed finish in the Bundesliga.

He has since returned to Anfield, but his chances of regular first-team football under Rafael Benitez look bleak.

“Yes, I have contact with Andriy, just spoken to him on the telephone,” Favre said in the Bild newspaper. “The contact was never broken off. He played excellently for us.”

A transfer fee could prove a stumbling block, though.

Hertha general manager Michael Preetz added: “We would like to have Voronin – if it was financially doable.”

[Soccernet]