Völler calls up old guard

Rudi Völler put the accent on experience as he named an injury-weakened squad for Germany's first EURO 2004™ qualifier against Lithuania.

Youngsters dropped
Despite young players like VfL Bochum's Paul Freier, SV Werder Bremen's Tim Borowski and Hertha BSC Berlin's goalscoring debutant Arne Freidrich all performing well in Germany's 2-2 friendly draw against Bulgaria, the coach has elected to bring his most experienced available players for the 7 September encounter.

Linke returns
FC Bayern München defender Thomas Linke has come out of international retirement for the game to cover for injuries to Jens Nowotny, Christian Wörns, Marko Rehmer and midfield player Lars Ricken. Goalkeeper and captain Oliver Kahn, defenders Christian Ziege and Frank Baumann, midfielders Jörg Böhme and Dietmar Hamann and forward Oliver Neuville all return from injury.

Germany squad
Kahn, Lehmann, Baumann, Hertzsch, Kehl, Linke, Metzelder, Ramelow, Ziege, Ballack, Böhme, Frings, Hamann, Jeremies, Schneider, Asamoah, Jancker, Klose, Neuville, Zickler.