Preview: Germany vs. Russia
by FOXSports.com
UEFA WCQ - Group 4
Enke will also miss Wednesday's game against Wales in Moenchengladbach and could be out for the rest of the year.
The German soccer federation said Enke was hurt in training and Thursday's scan revealed the fracture. Enke became Germany's No. 1 goalkeeper after the European Championship, following Jens Lehmann's retirement from the national team.
The 23-year-old Adler has been considered Enke's backup, but he was absent from the three games after the European Championship because of a shoulder injury and Wiese, 26, had been Enke's reserve.
Loew made no immediate decision on who will be in goal against Russia.
Having a novice goalkeeper in an already reshuffled defense could be a problem for Germany, which beat Liechtenstein 6-0 in its opener but struggled to a 3-3 draw in Finland. Russia beat Wales 2-1 in its only Group 4 game so far. Azerbaijan is also in the group.
Midfielder Torsten Frings said Germany will have to be very cautious against Russia.
"You must have respect for Russia," Frings said Thursday. "Nobody considered Russia among the favorites at the European Championship but they ousted a very good team (Netherlands) and reached the semifinals, so that should be our warning signal."
Loew has compared Russia to Spain, which beat Germany 1-0 in the European Championship final.
"Russia is at the same level as Spain and other top teams," Loew said Wednesday. "I have seldom seen a team that has a such a quick transition game, they are very strong in their forward movement.
They take advantage of every mistake you make and we have to be very careful. If you lose possession - especially in your half - if you are careless in passing, they will punish you."
Germany is No. 3 in FIFA's rankings compared to Russia's No. 9.
UEFA WC Qualifying
Germany is without defender Marcell Jansen due to a thigh injury. Russia coach Guus Hiddink has lost central defender Denis Kolodin to an ankle injury, but midfielder Igor Denisov is back in the squad after sitting out Euro 2008.
Russia striker Roman Pavlyuchenko will miss his team's World Cup qualifiers against Azerbaijan and Liechtenstein after partially tearing an ankle ligament while playing for Tottenham.
The 26-year-old forward limped off the field during Tottenham's 1-0 home loss to Hull on Sunday and the Premier League club said that he will be out of action for about three weeks.
The news is a blow to Russia, which hosts Azerbaijan on Saturday before visiting Liechtenstein four days later. It also damages Tottenham, which is struggling at the bottom of the Premier League with just four goals in seven matches.
Captain Michael Ballack was one of six players recalled to Germany's squad for World Cup qualifiers against Russia and Wales later this month.
Midfielders Torsten Frings, Jermaine Jones and Ballack, defenders Per Mertesacker and Arne Friedrich, and reserve goalkeeper Rene Adler missed last month's qualifiers against Liechtenstein and Finland because of injury.
They have joined coach Joachim Loew's squad for the Oct. 11 match against Russia in Dortmund and against Wales four days later in Moenchengladbach.
Christoph Metzelder, Marko Marin, Andreas Hinkel and Christian Pander were dropped.
Eighteen of the 22 players in the squad were at the European Championship. Jones is one of the four who weren't in the Euro 2008 squad that finished runner-up to Spain in June. Backup goalkeeper Tim Wiese, defender Serdar Tasci and striker Patrick Helmes of Bayer Leverkusen are the others.
WC Qualifying on FSC
Wed., Nov. 19, 11:30 a.m. LIVE -
Saudi Arabia vs. South Korea
Wed., Nov. 19, 1:30 p.m. -
Bahrain vs. Australia
Wed., Nov. 19, 3:30 p.m. -
Qatar vs. Japan
| All times ET, subject to change. | Full Schedule > |
Germany beat Liechtenstein 6-0 and drew 3-3 with Finland.
The squad:
Goalkeepers: Robert Enke (Hannover 96), Rene Adler (Bayer Leverkusen), Tim Wiese (Werder Bremen).
Defenders: Clemens Fritz (Werder Bremen), Arne Friedrich (Hertha Berlin), Marcell Jansen (Hamburg), Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich), Per Mertesacker (Werder Bremen), Serdar Tasci (Stuttgart), Heiko Westermann (Schalke).
Midfielders: Michael Ballack (Chelsea), Torsten Frings (Werder Bremen), Thomas Hitzlsperger (Stuttgart), Jermaine Jones (Schalke), Simon Rolfes (Bayer Leverkusen), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich), Piotr Trochowski (Hamburg).
Forwards: Mario Gomez (Stuttgart), Patrick Helmes (Bayer Leverkusen), Miroslav Klose (Bayern Munich), Kevin Kuranyi (Schalke), Lukas Podolski (Bayern Munich).
Russia coach Guus Hiddink on Monday called up two newcomers to his 22-man squad for next month's World Cup qualifiers against Germany and Finland.
CSKA Moscow midfielder Alan Dzagoev has been named in the squad after scoring twice in CSKA's 3-1 win over Zenit St. Petersburg two weeks ago. The 18-year-old also scored in CSKA's 2-1 win over Tomsk this weekend, as CSKA moved to second place in the Russian league.
The other newcomer is Spartak Moscow striker Aleksandr Prudnikov.
Zenit midfielder Igor Denisov is back in the national squad for the first time since he declined to take a place on Hiddink's Euro 2008 finals squad. Press reports at the time said that Denisov was offended after not being included in Hiddink's preliminary squad for the tournament.
Russia suffered a major blow in defense after central defender Denis Kolodin sustained an ankle injury during Dinamo Moscow's 3-3 draw with Krylya Sovetov Samara on Saturday. Kolodin is likely to miss the rest of the Russian season.
Russia will face Germany in Dortmund on Oct. 11 before hosting Finland in Moscow four days later.
Squad:
Goalkeepers: Igor Akinfeev (CSKA Moscow), Vyacheslav Malafeev (Zenit St. Petersburg), Sergei Ryzhikov (Rubin Kazan).
Defenders: Aleksandr Anyukov (Zenit St. Petersburg), Aleksei Berezutsky (CSKA Moscow), Vasili Berezutsky (CSKA Moscow), Sergei Ignashevich (CSKA Moscow), Renat Yanbaev (Lokomotiv Moscow).
Midfielders: Yuri Zhirkov (CSKA Moscow), Alan Dzagoev (CSKA Moscow), Sergei Semak (Rubin Kazan), Igor Semshov (Dinamo Moscow), Diniar Bilyateldinov (Lokomotiv Moscow), Dmitri Torbinsky (Lokomotiv Moscow), Konstantin Zyryanov (Zenit St. Petersburg), Igor Denisov (Zenit St. Petersburg), Ivan Saenko (Spartak Moscow), Vladimir Bystrov (Spartak Moscow).
Strikers: Andrei Arshavin (Zenit St. Petersburg), Pavel Pogrebnyak (Zenit St. Petersburg), Roman Pavlyuchenko (Tottenham), Aleksandr Prudnikov (Spartak Moscow).
advertisement
