Germany's final squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup features captain Manuel Neuer returning from injury. Attacking midfielder Leroy Sane was surprisingly not on the list of 23 players heading to defend the cup in Russia. Goalkeeper Neuer has featured in just one game, a friendly against Austria on Friday, June 1 since breaking his foot in September last year. The injury to his metatarsal came during a training session and ruled out the keeper for the rest of the season.
Neuer who is also the captain is clearly Loewe's first-choice keeper for the competition despite the presence of Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Kevin Trapp. The German coach announced the final squad at the end of the training camps in the Italian Alps. The team is scheduled to play one final warm-up game against Saudi Arabia in Leverkusen on Friday before they kick off the tournament on 17 June against Mexico. Germany is drawn in Group F along with Sweden, Mexico and South Korea. The champions start out as favourites, despite Neuer's failure to stop Austria from scoring in their 2-1 defeat.
Sane's dropping comes as a shock for the Manchester City star, whose performance this season saw him claim the title of 'Premier League's Young Player of the Year'. Sane scored 14 goals and had 19 assists to his name as City claimed the League with five games to spare.
The players who missed making it to the squad include Leroy Sane, goalkeeper Bernd Leno, forward Nils Petersen and defender Jonathan Tah.
Goalkeepers- Manuel Neur (Bayern Munich), Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Barcelona), Kevin Trapp (Paris St. Germain)
Defenders- Jerome Boateng (Bayern Munich), Matthias Ginter (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Jonas Hector (Cologne), Mats Hummels (Bayern Munich), Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich), Marvin Plattenhardt (Hertha Berlin), Antonio Ruediger (Chelsea), Niklas Suele (Bayern Munich)
Midfielders- Julian Brandt (Bayer Leverkusen), Julian Draxler (Paris St Germain), Leon Goretzka (Schalke 04), Ilkay Gundogan (Manchester City), Sami Khedira (Juventus), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), Sebastian Rudy (Bayern Munich), Mesut Ozil (Arsenal)
Forwards- Mario Gomez (VfB Stuttgart), Thomas Mueller (Bayern Munich), Timo Werner (RB Leipzig), Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund)
