German coach Joachim Loew named five young players to make up for the absence of players from Bayern Munich and Werder Bremen for next Thursday’s friendly game against Malta in Aachen next week.

The German coach named his provisional 27-man squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. The squad includes no less than seven Bayern Munich players and four from Werder Bremen with the only player based abroad is Chelsea’s Michael Ballack. These players are all ruled out of the friendly game against Malta.

Bayern’s Jörg Butt, Holger Badstuber, Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Mario Gomez, Miroslav Klose and Thomas Müller together with Werder Bremen’s Tim Wiese, Per Mertesacker, Marko Marin and Mesut Özil will be missing the game in Aachen as they will be playing in the DFB Cup final.

The players who were included in the squad are: Borussia Dortmund’s Kevin Großkreutz and Mats Hummels, Stefan Reinartz of Bayer Leverkusen, Marco Reus of Borussia Moenchengladbach and goalie Tobias Sippel of Kaiserslautern.

Sippel and Hummels were part of the Under-21 squad in the last European Championship while Reinartz formed part of the German squad which won the European Championship in 2008.

The players for the friendly game against Malta are therefore:
goalkeepers Manuel Neuer (Schalke 04), Tobias Sippel (1. FC Kaiserslautern);
defenders Dennis Aogo (Hamburger SV), Andreas Beck (1899 Hoffenheim), Jerome Boateng (Hamburger SV), Arne Friedrich (Hertha BSC), Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund), Marcell Jansen (Hamburger SV), Stefan Reinartz (Bayer Leverkusen), Serdar Tasci (VfB Stuttgart), Heiko Westermann (Schalke 04);
midfielders Kevin Großkreutz (Borussia Dortmund), Sami Khedira (VfB Stuttgart), Toni Kroos (Bayer Leverkusen), Marco Reus (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Christian Träsch (VfB Stuttgart), Piotr Trochowski (Hamburger SV);
forwards Cacau (VfB Stuttgart), Stefan Kießling (Bayer Leverkusen), Lukas Podolski (1. FC Köln).

Thursday’s game will be played at the Tivoli Stadion in Aachen at 18:00. The game will be controlled by referee Alain Hamer from Luxembourg.