Brdaric in Confederation Cup squad

The dress rehearsal for next year’s World Cup finals (The Confederation Cup), will take place without Miroslav Klose. The Werder Bremen striker who is an integral part of coach Jürgen Klinsmann’s team, has undergone knee surgery and will be out of action for at least a month. That means that Klinsi will be without his best striker not only for the Confederation Cup (June 15th to 29th), but also for the friendly matches away to Northern Ireland on June 4th and against Russia in Mönchengladbach four days later.

Didi Hamann, who won the Champions League with Liverpool last week, will also miss out, after a fracture was discovered in his right foot.

Brdaric gets the call

Klinsmann has opted to pick the 30 year old Wolves striker Thomas Brdaric to replace Klose. Brdaric hasn’t played for Germany since the 5-1 win over Thailand in December 2004. The much-travelled goal-getter had been overlooked by the Germany coach since then, due to a run of poor form. Brdaric has scored once for his country in 8 appearances.