Germany put faith in youth

Germany coach Rudi Völler has handed the final two places in his UEFA EURO 2004™ squad to Bastian Schweinsteiger and Lukas Podolski.

U21 exit
Both players were in action today in the UEFA European Under-21 Championship, Germany losing 2-1 to Portugal to end their involvement in a tournament they are hosting. "As most of you already guessed Lukas Podolski and Bastian Schweinsteiger are the final two players in my team," said Völler after his side's 2-0 victory in Basel against fellow EURO 2004™ finalists Switzerland.

Scoring spree
Podolski excelled in the recent Bundesliga season, scoring ten times in 19 games for 1. FC Köln, who were relegated. Schweinsteiger, meanwhile, became a regular for FC Bayern München, appearing 26 times in the Bundesliga and three times in the UEFA Champions League. The duo will join up with the full national team on Thursday.

Germany squad

Goalkeepers
Oliver Kahn (FC Bayern München)
Jens Lehmann (Arsenal FC)
Timo Hildebrand (VfB Stuttgart)

Defenders
Frank Baumann (SV Werder Bremen)
Arne Friedrich (Hertha BSC Berlin)
Andreas Hinkel (VfB Stuttgart)
Philipp Lahm (VfB Stuttgart)
Jens Nowotny (Bayer 04 Leverkusen)
Christian Rahn (Hamburger SV)
Christian Wörns (BV Borussia Dortmund)

Midfielders
Michael Ballack (FC Bayern München)
Fabian Ernst (SV Werder Bremen)
Torsten Frings (BV Borussia Dortmund)
Dietmar Hamann (Liverpool FC)
Jens Jeremies (FC Bayern München)
Sebastian Kehl (BV Borussia Dortmund)
Bernd Schneider (Bayer 04 Leverkusen)
Bastian Schweinsteiger (FC Bayern München)

Forwards
Fredi Bobic (Hertha BSC Berlin)
Thomas Brdaric (Hannover 96)
Miroslav Klose (1. FC Kaiserslautern)
Kevin Kuranyi (VfB Stuttgart)
Lukas Podolski (1. FC Köln)