Bobic back for Germany

Veteran striker Fredi Bobic has joined the Germany squad for tomorrow's friendly against the Netherlands in Gelsenkirchen, more than four years after earning his last cap.

Four-year wait
The 31-year-old, now with Hannover 96, has not featured for the Nationalmannschaft since February 1998 but received the call from coach Rudi Völler together with Bayer 04 Leverkusen midfield player Hanno Balitsch following the withdrawals of Carsten Ramelow and Carsten Jancker.

Excellent form
Bobic has been in excellent form this season, scoring eight goals already. Germany are already without Dietmar Hamann, Christoph Metzelder, Jens Nowotny and Christian Ziege, who are all injured, and the suspended defender Christian Wörns.

Giuly in for Zidane
Doubts over Zinedine Zidane, meanwhile, have prompted France coach Jacques Santini to call up AS Monaco CF's Ludovic Giuly after an absence of two years. A back injury means Zidane has only a five per cent chance of playing, giving Giuly a chance of adding to his three caps. He joins Philippe Mexes, Daniel Moreira and Benoît Pedretti in joining the squad late.

Starkovs trims squad
Latvia coach Aleksandrs Starkovs has cut his initial 24-man squad down to 19 for the UEFA EURO 2004™ Group 4 qualifier against San Marino. FKH Liepajas Metalurgs goalkeeper Aleksejs Krucs, called up by Starkovs for the first time, missed out on the trip, along with fellow keeper Andris Vanins of FK Ventspils. Also left behind were Ventspils defender Vladimirs Zavoronkovs, FC Dinaburg midfield player Jurgis Pucinskis and Ventspils striker Vits Rimkus.

Ljungberg out
Arsenal FC midfield player Fredrik Ljungberg has pulled out of the Sweden squad for the friendly against Czech Republic because of a knee injury. Ljungberg, the newly crowned Swedish player of the year, hurt his knee in Saturday's north London derby against Tottenham Hotspur FC.

Ljungberg comments
"The knee feels OK and it's been getting better since Saturday's game, but the physicians have told me to rest," Ljungberg said. He joins strikers Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Andreas Andersson, and defenders Klebér Saarenpää and Marcus Lantz in pulling out of the squad.

Kaluzny called up
Staying in Scandinavia, FC Energie Cottbus's Radoslaw Kaluzny is replacing the sick Tomasz Hajto in Poland's squad for the friendly with Denmark in Copenhagen.

Iordanescu makes changes
Parma AC forward Adrian Mutu will miss Romania's friendly against Croatia on Wednesday because of an injured left knee, Sevilla FC defender Iulian Filipescu is also out because of worries over a thigh injury, and coach Anghel Iordanescu has called up midfield player Ovidiu Petre and the uncapped Lucian Sinmartean to replace the replace the pair for the match in Timisoara.

Croatia duo missing
Croatia are also missing players after defenders Dario Simic (knee) and Robert Kovac withdrew. Coach Otto Baric replaced them with Jasmin Agic of NK Dinamo Zagreb and Hrvoje Vejic from HNK Hajduk Split.