2010 FIFA World Cup: The Curse Affecting Germany

Heiko Westermann became the latest victim to the mysterious injuries affecting the German side.

Joachim Loew, prior to naming his preliminary squad received two phone calls from Leverkusen. One came from Rene Adler and the other from Simon Rolfes. The Leverkusen captain had a brilliant season. However the second part of his season was somewhat marred by injury. He confirmed to Loew that he will not recover in time for the World Cup from his latest problems.

Rene Adler was set to be named Germany's first choice keeper but unfortunately was unable to recover from an injury as well. He played in Leverkusen's match against Hertha Berlin after recovering from a rib injury. He realized then that he wouldn't be able to participate in the World Cup.

Michael Ballack was the next victim. Jerome Boateng's brother Kevin-Prince managed to end Ballack's hopes of winning a World Cup by breaking his ankle. Perhaps, without their captain, Germany's hopes of reaching an eighth final were somewhat ruined.

Christian Trasch, then, had to book a ticket to Stuttgart after spraining his ankle in a warm-up friendly against Italian side, FC Sudtirol. German fans can be forgiven for worrying after hearing that Thomas Muller fell off his bike during a training session. Luckily, he somehow managed not to cause too much damage to himself.

The last man to leave was Heiko Westermann. Towards the end of Germany's friendly victory over Hungary, Westermann "injured himself" while passing the ball. It was later reported that he broke his foot.

Westermann's injury brought the number of players called up by Joachim Loew down to 24. Loew has to only remove one player from his squad as a result. Low might as well wait till the friendly in two days time as somewhat might just get injured. Due to FIFA regulations, he has to give up the squad list to FIFA today.

In other news, Loew has backed Miro Klose to fight his confidence issues and be prepared in time for the World Cup. This is what Loew had to say about the man voted the third biggest disappointment in the Bundesliga this season by Kicker magazine:

"It is clear that it will be no easy task to get Miro in form. It will be hard work, for him, for us. He has to work a lot. He still hasn't shown the form that he is actually capable of."

"For Miro it is now about becoming more certain in training."

"People have often written Miro off before," he added. "But when it comes to it, he is there."