Klose ruled out of Germany qualifiers
Reuters - Monday 30 May 2011, 17:01
BERLIN - Forward Miroslav Klose and
midfielder Marco Reus are out of Germany's Euro 2012 qualifiers
against Austria and Azerbaijan next month due to injury, the
team said on Monday.
Klose hurt his ribs in the 2-1 friendly win over Uruguay on
Sunday while Reus was injured in Borussia Moenchengladbach's
relegation play-off first leg against VfL Bochum and further
aggravated the problem when he scored the deciding goal in the
return match.
It is the third time the talented Reus, 21, who has yet to
win his first cap, has been picked in the squad and dropped out
through injury.
Klose's knock opens the door for Bayern Munich team-mate
Mario Gomez to lead the attack after the Bundesliga top scorer
made the most of a rare start by netting Germany's opening goal
against Uruguay.
The 32-year-old Klose came on as a substitute in the second
half but failed to make an impact.
"He picked up a painful rib injury. Medical tests on Monday
showed he will need to refrain from training in the coming days
and so cannot be at our disposal for the qualifiers," the German
football federation said in a statement.
Germany, who top their Euro qualifying group with five wins
in as many matches, meet Austria on June 3 before taking on
Azerbaijan four days later.
Klose, Germany's second most capped player behind Lothar
Matthaus, is chasing Gerd Muller's all-time scoring record
having netted 61 times in 109 appearances.
Muller scored 68 goals in 62 internationals.