Klinsmann has two more worries added to his list: Michael Ballack and Robert Huth are doubtful to play for Germany in their warm-up game against Japan on Tuesday.

Ballack, the Germany captain, suffered a minor ankle strain in a practice game last Thursday and was forced to miss Saturday’s 7-0 win over Luxembourg in Freiburg. He had been expected back within a couple of days but he missed training again on Sunday.

“It’s too early to tell whether he will be able to play against Japan,” assistant coach Joachim Low told reporters at the team’s training camp in Switzerland on Sunday. “We’ll decide on Monday at the earliest.

The news follow Germany’s healthy run against Luxembourg (a 7-0 win). Though the players are injuried, they are not believed to be in any real danger of missing the World Cup games.

“Japan and Colombia are of a completely different calibre to Luxembourg,” Low said.v”But of course we can be positive about the performance. It was nice to see that the players have learned a lot from the things we’ve been working on here in Geneva.”

Germany leave Switzerland on Tuesday and head straight to Leverkusen for the game against Japan. They then set up camp in Dusseldorf for a couple of days before playing Colombia in Monchengladbach on 2 June.

Source: WCoffsite