Injured Lehmann misses out

By Mark Bennett & Paul-Daniel Zaharia

Germany's friendly against Romania in Bucharest should have been about goalkeepers Oliver Kahn and Jens Lehmann and their battle for the No1 jersey. Coach Rudi Völler had promised to give both men 45 minutes each to stake their claim.

Hildebrand summoned
The opportunity to see the two in action was lost, however, when Lehmann - who had impressed Völler during last month's victory over Belgium - withdrew from the squad this morning complaining of back pain. He felt sore after training yesterday and was no better after a night's sleep. Lehmann's loss is Timo Hildebrand's gain as the VfB Stuttgart keeper has been summoned to Bucharest and is expected to make his international debut as a replacement for Kahn at some stage of tonight's game.

Völler wants result
Völler is keen that his side come away from Bucharest with a good result to add to victories this year over Croatia and Belgium as they build towards their UEFA EURO 2004™ opener against the Netherlands on 15 June. "It is not always essential to play good football in the build-up to a big tournament," he said, "but it is vital to get the right result so that the players can build their confidence".

Ballack fit
Germany have been boosted by the news that Michael Ballack has passed a late fitness test, meaning that Völler can look to the same midfield of Bernd Schneider, Dietmar Hamann, Torsten Frings and Ballack that led Germany to the FIFA World Cup final two years ago. However, Völler - who will partner Fredi Bobic with VfB Stuttgart's Kevin Kuranyi in attack - is missing defender Christian Wörns and midfield player Christian Rahn. "We have got a few injury problems to deal with, but I am sure we will cope," he said.

Romanian injury woe
Romania coach Anghel Iordanescu's injury problems are more serious. Of the 14 foreign-based players he originally selected, only ten are available. Midfield duo Daniel Pancu and Florin Cernat did not even make the trip because of injury while Chelsea FC striker Adrian Mutu has a knee injury which is almost certain to rule him out. Goalkeeper Bogdan Stelea is also rated as extremely doubtful.

Niculae returns
On the bright side, striker Marius Niculae returns after 17 months out with repeated knee and foot injuries, while left-back Cristian Dancia is also back in the fold after three years and looks set to win his third cap. A record eleven home-based players feature in the Romania squad, and one of them, goalkeeper Marius Popa, could be in line for his international debut.

Form favours Germans
What Romania could really do with is a change of luck. Of their eleven previous meetings with Germany, they have won just once, 36 years ago, while Germany have enjoyed seven victories. Völler, of course, would settle for more of the same.