BERLIN: Germany coach Joachim Loew has named three of the country’s Olympic silver medal-winning team in his squad for games against Finland and Norway.

Schalke’s Max Meyer was included after captaining the Germany side defeated by Brazil in a penalty shootout in the final of the men’s soccer event at the Maracana on Aug 20.

Hoffenheim’s Niklas Suele received his first international call-up and Julian Brandt of Bayer Leverkusen also made the cut.

Germany meet Finland in a friendly in Moenchengladbach on Aug 31 before facing Norway in Oslo on Sept 4 as they begin their 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign.

The first fixture will serve as a farewell match for Bastian Schweinsteiger, who announced his international retirement at the Euro 2016.

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Bernd Leno (Bayer Leverkusen), Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Barcelona), Defenders: Emre Can (Liverpool), Jonas Hector (FC Koln), Benedikt Hoewedes (Schalke), Mats Hummels (Bayern Munich), Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich), Shkodran Mustafi (Valencia), Niklas Suele (Hoffenheim), Jonathan Tah (Bayer Leverkusen).

Midfielders: Karim Bellarabi (Bayer Leverkusen), Julian Brandt (Bayer Leverkusen), Julian Draxler (VfL Wolfsburg), Sami Khedira (Juventus), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), Max Meyer (Schalke), Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich), Mesut Oezil (Arsenal), Andre Schuerrle (Borussia Dortmund), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Manchester United), Julian Weigl (Borussia Dortmund).

Strikers: Mario Goezte (Borussia Dortmund), Kevin Volland (Bayer Leverkusen).

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2016