Source: Daily_Mail
WORLD CUP 2010: Dennis Aogo and Holger Badstuber in provisional Germany squad
Hamburg defender Dennis Aogo and Bayern Munich youngster Holger Badstuber were the surprise names in Germany coach Joachim Loew's provisional 27-man squad for the World Cup. [LNB]Loew also named Bayern Munich veteran Hans-Jorg Butt among the three goalkeepers who are all vying to become the new No 1 after Rene Adler had to pull out due to injury. [LNB] [LNB] Breakthrough: Aogo (right) has been named in Germany's provisional squad[LNB]Lukas Podolski and Miroslav Klose, who have both had difficult seasons for their clubs, have also been included, but there was no place for Lazio midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger, who was a key member of the squad which earned qualification over the last two years. [LNB] Aogo, 23, makes the step-up from the Germany Under 21 squad and will rival his Hamburg team-mate Marcell Jansen for a place in Loew's final 23-man selection for the tournament. [LNB]Provisional squadGOALKEEPERSHans-Jorg Butt, Manuel Neuer, Tim Wiese [LNB]DEFENDERSPerMertesacker, Heiko Westermann, Philipp Lahm, Jerome Boateng, AndreaBeck, Arne Friedrich, Serdar Tasci, Marcell Jansen, Holger Badstuber,Dennis Aogo[LNB]MIDFIELDERSMichael Ballack, Sami Khedira, PiotrTrochowski, Marko Marin, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Christian Trasch,Mesut Ozil, Toni Kroos[LNB]FORWARDS Lukas Podolski, Miroslav Klose,Stefan Kiessling, Cacau, Thomas Muller, Mario Gomez[LNB] [LNB]'Aogo has played for our Under 21s and has been playing with Hamburg in Europe,' explained Loew.[LNB] 'For us, the criteria are not that players have played lots of games for us, but that they have the potential and we could see his technical ability and that was the reason why we have decided to take him along with the 27 players.' [LNB]Badstuber also earns his first international call only nine months after making the first of eight appearances for the Under 21s, and his debut in the Bayern first team. [LNB]Loew will have to disappoint four players before he hands his final list of 23 players to FIFA early next month.[LNB]But before that, he will get the chance to consider all of his options in the next few weeks, with friendly matches against Malta, Hungary and Bosnia and Herzegovina on the schedule. [LNB][LNB] Decision time: Loew (left), with assistant Hans-Dieter Flick, must cut four players[LNB] Loew blow as Germany manager loses Leverkusen's Adler and Rolfes to injuryCannavaro to retire after Italy's World Cup campaign in South AfricaBarcelona star Xavi could miss Spain's World Cup campaign with muscle injuryPICTURE SPECIAL: Crouch's missus joins WAGs to launch World Cup kitsArgentina hammer Haiti as Diego Maradona warms up for South Africa[LNB][LNB] [LNB]
