Germany’s first choice goalkeeper Manuel Neuer withdrew from the training camp earlier on Monday due to a stomach virus.

Germany manager Joachim Loew is expected to replace Neuer with FC Barcelona shot stopper Marc-Andre ter Stegen with PSG custodian Kevin Trapp being his back up.

A possible third choice which Low might be interested in is Leverkusen goalkeeper Bernd Leno. Ter Stegen, who already has four senior caps for Germany, will be Loew’s likely choice in goal in spite of the fact that Trapp (25) is the senior most of the lot.

Loew critical of his players after collapse against England

Coach Joachim Loew was critical of his team after the recent defeat to England. He spoke to the correspondents of the official DFB website and said – “We allowed them a lot of chances and we didn’t build our attacks the way we usually do. We had problems with our build-up game throughout the entire match and consequently didn’t create many opportunities of our own.

“Our combinations and our movement didn’t go as planned. Our organisation and compact positioning was lacking, especially in the second half. We allowed England an crazy amount of space, despite holding a lead”.

Germany vs Italy

Loew is expected to pair up Hamburg’s Jonathan Tah and Valencia’s Shkodran Mustafi in central defence with Hector and Sebastian Rudy designated to the left and right fullback positions respectively.

In midfield, Toni Kroos looks set to start and will likely be partnered by Sami Khedira despite the latter missing training on Monday due to a minor injury.

Julian Draxler, Thomas Muller and Karim Bellarabi are likely to start in front of the Kroos-Khedira pivot in central midfield. Upfront, Mario Gomez is all set to be replaced by his namesake Mario Gotze.

Gotze’s playing time has reduced considerably for both club and the national team in recent months. Tuesday’s match against Italy will be a big chance for the 23 year old to convince Loew into making him a central part of his summer plans in France.

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