The matches against England and Azerbaijan will be the last for Die Mannschaft until the summer. On 6th June, Löw’s team will face Denmark in a friendly in Copenhagen, before the next qualifier against San Marino on 10th June in Nuremberg. The squad will then head to Russia for the Confed-Cup which kicks off on 19th June.
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The final international appearance of Lukas Podolski’s career may well be the first of Timo Werner’s. Head coach Joachim Löw announced his 24-man squad for the upcoming internationals against England in Dortmund on 22nd March (20:45 CET) and Azerbaijan in Baku on 26th March (18:00 CEST). Included in the squad is Podolski, who will bid farewell to the national team after 13 years.
RB Leipzig’s Timo Werner is the sole debutant in the squad. Speaking about the young forward, Löw: "Werner is a young and interesting player with good potential. He is very versatile and has played consistently at a high level this season. I’m pleased to welcome him into the set-up and to be able to observe him." The decision to include Werner was made after discussions with DFB sporting director Horst Hrubesch and U21s head coach Stefan Kuntz.
Rüdiger back in the squad
World Cup winner Antonio Rüdiger is back in the national team squad. The AS Roma defender pulled out of the EURO 2016 squad with a cruciate ligament injury shortly before the tournament began, but having fully recovered he is once again a key player for the Italian side. “I’m very pleased with his development,” said Löw. "Antonio has worked hard, his physique is fantastic; he has his power and dynamism back. His injury is well and truly behind him."
Germany and England have met 34 times, with Die Mannschaft winning twelve and losing 16. The remaining six ended in draws. The most recent meeting saw the Three Lions triumph 3-2 when the two sides met in Berlin a year ago.
Match 35 against England will also be the 130th and final international appearance of Lukas Podolski’s career. The 31-year-old will receive a final send-off in Dortmund, 4672 days after his first appearance on 6th June 2004 in Kaiserslautern. Ahead of Poldi’s last game, Löw: "It’s great that Lukas will say goodbye in such a wonderful way. It’s a worthy farewell, and one that he deserves. Matches against England are always real classics, on top of that in front of the fantastic fans in Dortmund. I assume that there will be a really fantastic atmosphere.”
Löw: "Qualify for the World Cup as quickly as possible"
Two days after the match in Dortmund, the team will travel to Baku to play their next World Cup 2018 qualifier against Azerbaijan. The team and captain Manuel Neuer will be hoping to building on their flawless record. The reigning champions are top of Group C with four wins in four, having scored 16 goals and concede none.
Joachim Löw ahead of the upcoming qualifier: “Our aim is to confirm our qualification as quickly as possible. So far we’re doing very well and we don’t want to slow down. The match in Baku is far from easy. They recently won at home against Norway, so we’ve been warned. But I have a lot of faith in my players. We know we have the tools to find the right solutions. If we play how we know we can, we’ll win."
Germany have a perfect record against Azerbaijan, winning all four of their previous encounters. The most recent meeting came on 7th June 2011, when Joachim Löw’s side prevailed 3-1 in Baku on the way to qualifying for EURO 2012.
The matches against England and Azerbaijan will be the last for Die Mannschaft until the summer. On 6th June, Löw’s team will face Denmark in a friendly in Copenhagen, before the next qualifier against San Marino on 10th June in Nuremberg. The squad will then head to Russia for the Confed-Cup which kicks off on 19th June.