Timo Werner called-up to German football team

Berlin March 18 (IANS) Germany s head coach Joachim Loew announced his 24-man squad which included Timo Werner for the upcoming international football matches against England and Azerbaijan.

Leipzig s Werner earned his first call-up for Germany on Friday while veteran Lukas Podolski will make his last appearance for the Nationalmannschaft after 13 years reports Xinhua news agency.

Werner who had played for Germany s Under-21 team has never played for the senior team. He has scored 14 goals in 23 appearances for the newly-promoted Leipzig who sit surprisingly on the second place of the Bundesliga standings.

Werner is a young and interesting player with great prospects. He is a very variable player and has consistently played at a high level this season. I am looking forward to seeing him in our squad Loew said.

Germany s 35th clash with England will also be the 130th outing for Podolski. It will be the last cap for the 31-year-old striker who made his debut in Germany s dress in June 2004.

It will be a great farewell game for Lukas and he deserves it. Matches against England are absolute classics. I assume that it will be full of atmosphere.

Germany will first face England for a test match on March 22 before Loew s men travel to Azerbaijan four days later hoping to extend their winning run in Group C of 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification.

Our goal is to book the ticket for the World Cup as soon as possible. We are on a very good path so far and we don t want to leave this path Loew said.

After four victories from four games the FIFA world champions lead the group with a clean sheet.

Germany s squad:

Goalkeepers: Bernd Leno (Bayer Leverkusen) Manuel Neuer (Bayern München) Marc-Andre ter Stegen (FC Barcelona)

Defenders: Jonas Hector (Cologne) Benedikt Hoewedes (Schalke) Mats Hummels (Bayern Munich) Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich) Shkodran Mustafi (FC Arsenal) Sebastian Rudy (Hoffenheim) Antonio Ruediger (AS Rom) Niklas Suele (Hoffenheim)

Midfielders: Julian Brandt (Bayer Leverkusen) Emre Can (FC Liverpool) Sami Khedira (Juventus Turin) Toni Kroos (Real Madrid) Mesut Oezil (FC Arsenal) Lukas Podolski (Galatasaray Istanbul) Julian Weigl (Borussia Dortmund)

Strikers: Andre Schuerrle (Borussia Dortmund) Timo Werner (RB Leipzig) Mario Gomez (VfL Wolfsburg) Thomas Müller (Bayern Munich) Julian Draxler (Paris St. Germain) Leroy Sane (Manchester City).

--IANS
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