Germany made a shock announcement by recalling captain Michael Ballack in their squad to face San Marino and Slovakia. Ballack missed the last month of Premiership following an ankle surgery, which was apparently conducted without the permission of Chelsea officials.

Ballack joins an injury hit squad as Germany looks to cement its position at the top of the group table. Bastian Schweinsteiger, Lukas Podolski, Tim Borowski, Oliver Neuville, Gerald Asamoah and Mike Hanke are all out of the squad due to injuries while David Odonkor and Arne Friedrich were not included due to lack of match practice.

Germany coach Joachim Loew has recalled Mario Gomez and Piotr Trochowski following an injury spell while Gonzalo Castro, Simon Rolfes, Roberto Hilbert and Patrick Helmes too get a look in. Germany are currently sitting pretty at the top of the table with 13 points, level in points with Czech Republic and Republic of Ireland, but have a game in hand against Czech, while Ireland has played seven games to Germany's five.

San Marino will have to improve by leaps and bounds if they are to avert another humiliation at the hands of the Germans, who defeated San Marino 13-0 in the last meeting. However things are not looking well at San Marino, with the team missing their captain and top scorer Andy Selva, who decided to stay with his club, Sassuolo Calcio to take part in the play-offs for promotion to Italy's Serie B.

And with Nicola Ciacci too missing the game with a foot injury, San Marino has got just three strikers. The team is currently staring the depths, losing all the five games it has played and scoring a solitary goal. Defense seems to be the weakest link, with San Marino conceding an astounding 30 goals in the five matches it has played. If nothing else this game might see some good goals from Germany. Germany v San Marino is scheduled to take place this weekend.