Although Germanys’ defender Arne Friedrich didn’t play in the recent match against Poland during the 2-0 defeat, he claims he is raring to go as soon as he is called.

The Germany coach, Joachim Low expressed his views on Friedrich in a press conference on Tuesday and the latter said that he was indeed eager to get on the field and play again. Said an extremely happy Friedrich, ‘I am naturally delighted about the praise and I feel really good at the moment but in spite of that it is, of course, difficult for a player to be left on the bench at the beginning of a tournament. After all, I was first choice at the last two big tournaments.’

In the previous 2004 Euro and the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Friedrich was a starter at both the tournaments. This time he does still expect to be on the bench during the match against Croatia in Klagenfurt. He said that the team did exceedingly well with the existing line-up and doesn’t think the coach would want to tamper with that, in the best interests of the team.

He does however admit that he will be ready in case he is put on, and either way, has complete faith in his team for Euro 2008.