BERLIN, Nov 13: Germany coach Joachim Loew on Thursday left Torsten Frings out of his squad to face England next week despite having apparently settled his differences with the experienced midfielder.

Loew told Frings last week he could still be “an important part of the national team” after the player apologised for comments he had made in the media following his exclusion from Germany’s last two starting line-ups.

However, there was no place for the 31-year-old in the 20-man squad named by Loew on Thursday for the friendly match at Berlin’s Olympic stadium next Wednesday.

The German football federation (DFB) said that Loew and Frings had agreed on the player’s omission ahead of the squad announcement.

Germany captain Michael Ballack, who also apologised to Loew after expressing his own disappointment at the treatment of Frings, will miss the England game as he is still recovering from a foot operation.

Philipp Lahm, Clemens Fritz, Marcell Jansen and Christian Pander have also been ruled out for health or injury reasons.

In their place Loew has called up three debutants with Hoffenheim team-mates Marvin Compper and Tobias Weis, and Wolfsburg’s Marcel Schaefer in line for first caps.

“We want to use the last game of the year to again try out one or two things and get some impressions for next year,” Loew was quoted as saying in the DFB statement.—Reuters