Germany calls up replacements ahead of friendly

Germany calls up replacements ahead of friendly

Published Nov. 11, 2012 8:11 p.m. ET

Germany coach Joachim Loew made two late call-ups to his squad for Wednesday's friendly against the Netherlands after four players dropped out because of injury on Sunday.

Eintracht Frankfurt and German under-21 defender Sebastian Jung received his first call-up to the senior side after Bayern Munich's Jerome Boateng and Borussia Dortmund's Marcel Schmelzer were ruled out.

Loew also called up Dortmund midfielder Sven Bender, after Bayern midfielders Bastian Schweinsteiger and Toni Kroos dropped out due to viral and gastrointestinal infections, respectively. Bender has already played twice for Germany.

The 22-year-old Jung is the second player who could make his international debut in Amsterdam, after Loew included 24-year-old Schalke midfielder Roman Neustaedter in his original selection on Friday.

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Schmelzer was ruled out with a recurrence of a metatarsal injury in his right foot. The same injury forced Schmelzer out of Germany's 4-4 draw with Sweden in a World Cup qualifier last month, while Boateng is out after injuring his groin in Bayern's 2-0 win over Frankfurt on Saturday.

Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes confirmed that Boateng tore a muscle and that the 24-year-old defender ''will definitely be out for two or three weeks.''

But Thomas Mueller will join the rest of the squad despite having a cold, Bayern said on its website.

Schweinsteiger has 97 appearances for Germany, considerably more than Kroos (34), Boateng (28) and Schmelzer (9).

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