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Germany face a trip to Liechtenstein in the opening match of their 2010 World qualifiers with the side missing captain Michael Ballack who is out with injury. Watch all world cup qualifiers live on Live Sport Network.

 

 

Ballack was picked in the 21-man squad by coach Joachim Loew but will be out of action for at least two weeks with a foot injury. Ballack's regular partner Torsten Frings is also out of contention with a broken nose that he suffered while playing a basketball game. Both the players watched from the stands as Germany held Bayern Munich to a 1-1 draw in Oliver Kahn's testimonial match on Tuesday.

Christian Pander has been recalled to the national team after the defender missed out playing in the Euro 2008 and subsequent friendlies following a prolonged run of injuries. Robert Enke and Tim Wiese will compete for the goalkeeping spot with Valencia keeper Timo Hildebrand once again ignored in spite of his claim that he is the number one keeper in Germany.

 

 

After their match against Liechtenstein, Germany travel to Finland for their second group game. Having been the host nation for the 2006 World Cup, Germany's last qualification campaign was back in 2002 when a loss of form in the later part of the campaign saw them struggle to overcome England and ultimately finish second in the group table.

Germany finished runners-up to Spain in this year's European Championship and coach Joachim Loew will be hopeful that his side will manage to qualify easily to the World Cup where he hopes for a similar showing in the tournament finals.