Klinsmann announces initial 28-man squad for World Cup

Germany coach Juergen Klinsmann announced the initial 28-man squad for their 2006 World Cup campaign, German daily Kicker reported on Monday.

“All German players have the chance of being called up to the national team, they have until May 23rd to prove their worth,” Klinsmann told the magazine.

“There will be fitness examinations for all the players during the coming period to assess all the players who are expected to be called up to the team,” he added.

Klinsmann will perform the first full assessment on January 30th and 31st in Duesseldorf.

The squad:

Goalkeepers: Oliver Kahn, Jens Lehmann, Timo Hildebrand

Defenders: Arne Friedrich, Andreas Hinkel, Robert Huth, Marcell Jansen, Philipp Lahm, Per Mertesacker, Christoph Metzelder, Patrick Owomoyela, Lukas Sinkiewicz, Christian Wörns

Midfielders: Michael Ballack, Sebastian Deisler, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Tim Borowski, Torsten Frings, Fabian Ernst, Thomas Hitzlsperger, Sebastian Kehl, Bernd Schneider

Strikers: Gerald Asamoah, Kevin Kuranyi, Mike Hanke, Miroslav Klose, Oliver Neuville, Lukas Podolski