The US men’s national team won’t have to deal with three of Germany’s most notable players when they face the defending World Cup champions next month, with goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, midfielder Toni Kroos and forward Thomas Muller not on the 20-man squad that will host the USMNT in Cologne on June 10.
Germany head coach Joachim Low is giving the star trio a break at the end of their long club seasons, which saw all three players advance to the semifinals of the UEFA Champions League – Neuer and Muller with Bayern Munich, and Kroos with Real Madrid.
“I’ve always been able to count on Thomas and Toni in the past and they have done great service to the [German Football Association] and the national team,” Low said.
“Manu has also been a role model and everybody knows he is one of the players who always wants to play, but [the German team doctor] has told me that Manu is currently feeling a bit of pain when training and playing.”
Low also left Borussia Dortmund winger Marco Reus and Schalke attacker Julian Draxler out of the squad. Both players were bothered by injuries at the end of the Bundesliga season.
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Prior to playing Germany, the US will face the Netherlands in a friendly in Amsterdam on June 5. That match will be broadcast live on ESPN at 2:30 pm ET, while the Germany contest will be shown on Fox Sports 1 starting at 2:45 pm ET.
The full German squad is listed below:
GOALKEEPERS (2): Roman Weidenfeller (Borussia Dortumnd), Ron-Robert Zieler (Hannover 96)
DEFENDERS (7): Jerome Boateng (Bayern Munich), Jonas Hector (FC Koln), Erik Durm (Borussia Dortmund), Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund), Shkodran Mustafi (Valencia CF), Sebastian Rudy (TSG Hoffenheim), Antonio Rudiger (VfB Stuttgart)
MIDFIELDERS (9): Karim Bellarabi (Bayer Leverkusen), Ilkay Gundogan (Borussia Dortmund), Sami Khedira (Real Madrid), Patrick Herrmann (Borussia Monchengladbach), Christoph Kramer (Borussia Monchengladbach), Mesut Ozil (Arsenal), Lukas Podolski (Internazionale), Andre Schurrle (VfL Wolfsburg), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich)
FORWARDS (2): Mario Gotze (Bayern Munich), Max Kruse (Borussia Monchengladbach)
