Injuries, disrupted preparations and a leaky defense are the main worries for Germany coach Joachim Loew ahead of the European Championship.

Löw hopes his defense is less generous than in the 5-3 loss to Switzerland on Saturday when his team takes on Israel at home on Thursday in Leipzig in its final warm-up for the June 8 to July 1 tournament in Poland and Ukraine.

The return of the eight Bayern Munich players that lost in the Champions League final to Chelsea should give the Germans more stability at the back. The players only joined the squad last weekend.…

Bastian Schweinsteiger was Wednesday ruled out of Germany′s friendly international against Israel, leaving a doubt on his fitness for the start of Euro 2012 next week.

The Bayern Munich midfielder was unable to train with the squad in Tourrettes in southern France because of a calf muscle injury suffered in the Champions League final against Chelsea.

Team manager Oliver Bierhoff confirmed Schweinsteiger would not play against Israel in Leipzig on Thursday, but said he was optimistic the deputy captain would be fit in time for Germany’s opening game at Euro 2012, against Portugal on June 9 in Lviv, Ukraine.…

Lukas Podolski says Germany will be fit when it counts after a succession of recent disappointments for Joachim Low’s national team.

A 5-3 defeat to Switzerland at the weekend came a week after Bayern Munich lost the final of the Champions League and there could justifiably be a few dropped heads in the Germany camp, but Podolski trusts their tournament mentality to kick in when it matters.

The eight Bayern players in Low’s preliminary 27-man squad were put through their paces in training for the first time after the Champions League final today and that also gives Podolski reason to be optimistic.…

Löw announced his squad one day early Monday, with the quartet flying back to Germany immediately.

The national coach, who took a 27-man squad into two training camps in Sardinia and France, will explain his choices on Tuesday when he will be working with his final group in the build-up to their first match of the tournament against Portugal on June 9.

Stuttgart striker Cacau is a surprise exclusion as Löw now takes only three forwards with him to Poland and Ukraine – Mario Gomez, Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski.…

The Germany camp expect to have to rebuild the battered confidence of their Bayern Munich stars ahead of Euro 2012 in the wake of the Bavarians’ Champions League final defeat at the hands of Chelsea.

The Blues beat Bayern 4-3 on penalties in Saturday’s final after it finished 1-1 after extra time in Munich and midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger was left distraught when he hit the post with his spot-kick to set-up Chelsea’s win.…

Joachim Löw has named the 27 players who will travel with the German national soccer team to training camp ahead of the European Championship, which starts next month in Poland and Ukraine.

With just over a month to go until Germany’s debut at the Euro 2012 on June 9 against Portugal in Lviv, Ukraine, head coach Joachim Löw announced the 27 men that will initially make the trip to the team’s training camp, which gets underway on Friday in Sardinia.

The final squad that actually makes the trip to the Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine will have 23 players. That list of names has to be submitted by May 29.

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