Germany captain Michael Ballack has left the national team on the final day of their training camp in Sicily and wished them well for the World Cup.
The Chelsea midfielder will miss the tournament due to an ankle injury sustained in Saturday's FA Cup final win over Portsmouth, but he has spent the last few days with the squad at their training camp to give them his support.
Before leaving, he told the squad to "forget about my injury" and concentrate on winning the competition without him.
"It was taken for granted for me that I would come here," he said in an address to the squad, reports the German Football Association's website.
"You have now got to forget about my injury fast and look forward.
"You are a strong team, whoever is nominated (in the final 23-man squad) and whoever plays. I am certain that you will play a good and successful World Cup."
Meanwhile, Ballack has rubbished claims made in the German media on Friday that a revolutionary treatment could have got him back on his feet again within a fortnight and enabled him to play in South Africa.
"I had also hoped this, but the doctor (national team doctor Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wohlfahrt) soon took the wind out of my sails," he told Germany's Kicker magazine.
"There is no alternative to the decision and the treatment."
Source: PA
