Khedira and Rolfes out of Azerbaijan clash
Reuters - Sunday 05 June 2011, 12:24
BERLIN - Germany midfielders Sami Khedira
and Simon Rolfes have been dropped from the squad ahead of
Tuesday's Euro 2012 qualifier in Azerbaijan because of minor
injuries.
Coach Joachim Low called up Lewis Holtby and Sebastian Rudy
to replace them.
Real Madrid midfielder Khedira had raced back from injury to
be fit for the qualifiers in Austria and Azerbaijan and played
in the 2-1 win in Vienna on Friday that consolidated Germany's
group lead with six wins from six games.
"Yesterday afternoon we decided not to count on Sami Khedira
because he did everything possible in the past two to three
weeks to play against Austria," Low told reporters in Vienna on
Sunday ahead of their departure.
"There is no problem and the injured muscle is fine but we
do not want to take a risk and decided it would be better if he
did not play.
Rolfes has been ruled out with a pulled muscle.
Germany top qualifying Group A with 18 points from six games
while Azerbaijan have three points from five games.