Football
PA Sport 9y

Liverpool's Emre Can earns Germany call-up ahead of Euro 2016 qualifiers

Emre Can has earned his first senior Germany call for the forthcoming European Championship qualifying matches against Poland and Scotland.

The Liverpool midfielder, who has appeared for his country at under-21 level, has impressed Germany coach Joachim Low in recent months and could make his senior debut in Frankfurt on Friday, Sept. 4.

"Emre has developed well for Liverpool and his versatility, his on-field presence and his dynamism have impressed us,'' Low said.

"Now we want to get to know him better in the coming days.''

Can is the only new face in a 23-man squad which also includes Borussia Dortmund's Matthias Ginter, fresh from scoring his first goal for the club.

Low said: "Matthias had a difficult year in Dortmund, but he accepted the challenge and is now benefiting from this attitude.

"His form is clearly on the up again and his recent performances have been convincing. We know that we can play him in a variety of positions.''

Goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen is also back in the international fold, albeit only as back-up to Manuel Neuer.

The Barcelona shot-stopper's return effectively brings an end to Roman Weidenfeller's brief international career.

"Manuel Neuer is our clear number one and there is no need to determine who is second or third choice,'' Low said. "We know Marc and we know what enormous potential he has got.''

Goalkeeper coach Andres Kopke added: "With Manuel Neuer, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Bernd Leno and Kevin Trapp, we have four German goalkeepers playing in the Champions League this year so we have absolutely no concerns in this position.

"I have spoken with Roman and told him quite openly that we currently want to take a look at the younger goalkeepers again, in order to get a precise idea of where we are at come the European Championship.''

Germany still have work to do to qualify for a place in France, however.

Their next two qualifiers against the group leaders Poland and challengers Scotland are likely to be decisive -- and the 2014 World Cup winners cannot afford to drop any more points.

"It's all in our own hands if we want to justify our ambitions and take over at the top of the group,'' Low said. "Our aim can only be to win both these games and I expect us to do that.

"We dropped a few points at the start of qualifying, and there were reasons for that, but we now take this situation as it is.

"I am convinced about the quality within my team and the character of every one of my players. We know what needs to be done and now we will move up a gear. We are ready.''

Germany squad:

Goalkeepers: Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Barcelona), Ron-Robert Zieler (Hannover).

Defenders: Jerome Boateng (Bayern Munich), Emre Can (Liverpool), Matthias Ginter (Borussia Dortmund), Jonas Hector (Cologne), Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund), Shkodran Mustafi (Valencia), Sebastian Rudy (Hoffenheim).

Midfielders: Karim Bellarabi (Bayer Leverkusen), Ilkay Gundogan (Borussia Dortmund), Christoph Kramer (Bayer Leverkusen), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), Thomas Mueller (Bayern Munich), Mesut Ozil (Arsenal), Lukas Podolski(Galatasaray Istanbul), Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund), Andre Schuerrle (Wolfsburg), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Manchester United).

Forwards: Mario Gotze (Bayern Munich), Max Kruse (Wolfsburg), Kevin Volland (Hoffenheim).

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