World Cup News

As World Cup is approaching, I will take some time to include some news on the squad and the readiness of each country, so as to help some of the readers here to be able to come to some decision on which team to bet on...

Starting from the host Germany :
(From SoccerWay.com)
BERLIN, May 15 (SW) - World Cup 2006 hosts Germany will play with new addition David Odonkor, but without striker Kevin Kuranyi. This was announced by manager Jürgen Klinsmann on Monday.

Kuranyi spent this season at Schalke 04, where a poor overall performance left him out of Klinsmann's plans for the upcoming World Cup, having scored only ten goals for his club team.

Other players to miss the World Cup are Schalke 04's Fabian Ernst and Patrick Owomoyela of Werder Bremen, while the coach did include Mike Hanke, who only scored eight goals this season.

Another surprise is the presence of David Odonkor, who has never played a match for Germany before. The speedy 21-year-old forward currently plays for Borussia Dortmund.

Germany World Cup squad

Goalkeepers:
Jens Lehmann (Arsenal)
Oliver Kahn (Bayern Munich)
Timo Hildebrand (VfB Stuttgart)

Defenders:
Arne Friedrich (Hertha BSC)
Per Mertesacker (Hannover 96)
Robert Huth (Chelsea)
Christoph Metzelder (Borussia Dortmund)
Jens Nowotny (Bayer Leverkusen)
Phillip Lahm (Bayern Munich)
Marcell Jansen (Borussia Mönchengladbach)

Midfielders:
Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich)
Bernd Schneider (Bayer Leverkusen)
Torsten Frings (Werder Bremen)
Sebastian Kehl (Borussia Dortmund)
Tim Borowski (Werder Bremen)
Michael Ballack (Chelsea)
Thomas Hitzlsperger (VfB Stuttgart)

Forwards:
Miroslav Klose (Werder Bremen)
Lukas Podolski (Cologne)
Gerald Asamoah (Schalke 04)
Oliver Neuville (Borussia Mönchengladbach)
Mike Hanke (VfL Wolfsburg)
David Odonkor (Borussia Dortmund)