Roberto Hilbert ready for England clash

German coach Joachim Löw has called-upon our client Robert Hilbert once more to bolster-up the Mannschaft for the upcoming game against England in Wembley (Wednesday, August 22, 8 P.M. local time). The midfielder from VfB Stuttgart, the reigning Bundesliga champions, will meet the rest of the team in Frankfurt on Sunday. Löw was forced to juggle the line-up due to various players cancelling because of injuries, most notably captain Michael Ballack (FC Chelsea), who has just started practicing again following a left ankle injury. Lukas Podolski (FC Bayern München) will also be unable to make the trip to England. The German delegation departs for London on Tuesday morning. Löw's injury woes grew even more severe, when Werder Bremen's Tim Borowski got banged up at the beginning of the season. Just a few days earlier, midfielder Torsten Frings (Werder Bremen) had suffered a knee injury, that will keep him sidelined for a few weeks. Finally, Germany's attack is weakened because of the cancellations of Jan Schlaudraff (Bayern München) and Mario Gomez (VfB Stuttgart), who had been voted "Best Player 2006/2007" by the German media. Löw has nominated four players from the ranks of VfB Stuttgart: Tasci - a defender with overall 7 games in the juniors national teams of the DFB, Khedira - a midfielder with four international juniors' appearances, as well as the two more experienced midfielders Thomas Hitzlsperger and Roberto Hilpert. The German coach and his team look forward to the game. "England versus Germany is a true football classic, comparable to Wimbledon in tennis or Monaco in formula 1 racing." 33-year old Bernd Schneider is the team's most experienced player - his stats show 78 caps and three goals. Germany won the last game at Wembley 1-0 through a goal by Dietmar Hamann (October 7, 2000).

Germany squad:

Goalkeepers: Timo Hildebrand (Valencia/ESP), Jens Lehmann (Arsenal/ENG)

Defenders: Arne Friedrich (Hertha Berlin), Clemens Fritz (Werder Bremen), Marcell Jansen (Bayern Munich), Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich), Per Mertesacker (Werder Bremen), Christoph Metzelder (Real Madrid/ESP), Serdar Tasci (VfB Stuttgart)

Midfielders: Robert Hilbert (VfB Stuttgart), Thomas Hitzlsperger (VfB Stuttgart), Sami Khedira (VfB Stuttgart), Bernd Schneider (Bayer Leverkusen), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich), Piotr Trochowski (SV Hamburg)

Forwards: Patrick Helmes (Cologne), Stefan Kiessling (Bayer Leverkusen), Miroslav Klose (Bayern Munich), Kevin Kuranyi (Schalke 04)