Germany’s World Cup preparations were hit by another blow as midfielder Christian Traesch was ruled out of the tournament after twisting his ankle early on in their friendly match against FC Tyrol. Fresh on the heels of the loss of Michael Ballack, the loss of the Stuttgart player is another major absentee from the plane heading to South Africa.

With Bayer Leverkusen’s midfielder Simon Rolfes and keeper Rene Adler suffering from knee and rib injuries respectively, Joachim Loew’s job of whittling down his squad is becoming easier by the day. Traesch’s club colleague Sami Khedira has now emerged as the main contender to feature in Ballack’s place.

Possibly the biggest surprise in the German squad is the total lack of representation from last years Bundesliga champions Wolfsburg. Despite having the likes of Marcel Schafer and Sascha Riether as almost constant fixtures in recent squads, the best team in the country during 2008/9 failed to find a single spot in Loew’s initial squad. Bayern Munich’s veteran keeper Hans-Jorg Butt has made the squad, a full seven years since the last of his three caps.

The up-and-coming matches against Hungary and Bosnia-Herzegovina will test fitness as well as temperament for the World Cup.