Joachim Loew calls on youth movement for international friendly against Sweden
As if German national team coach Joachim Loew hadn't been bold enough during the World Cup over the summer, giving the opportunity to the likes of Thomas Mueller, Mesut Ozil, and Sami Khedira, all barely in their twenties at the time of the tournament, he
plans to do one better when Germany take on Sweden in a friendly on November 17.
Loew's youth movement helped Germany progress all the way to the finals of the World Cup, and now he plans to give opportunities to at least three more youngsters –
Mario Goetze, Andre Schuerrle and Lewis Holtby
– all of whom could make their first international first-team appearances.
"They are definitely going to be included. All of them have played really, really well this season over a long period of time. I can imagine them making the step up to the very highest level internationally," Loew told German
newspaper Bild. "The plan is to give every single player in the squad a slice of the action. During the course of the game, those who don't start will come on."
Goetze is just 18 years old but is turning heads with his impressive form at Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund, and many are calling him the next wunderkind.
Schuerrle and Holtby are both just 20 years of age and are the main attacking force behind the surprise team of the German Bundesliga, Mainz.
"If I have the feeling that a player fits in with our philosophy, then I will call him up," Loew said about his decision to include the youngsters in his side. "That can happen even after a matter of weeks. Age does not come
into it. The argument that you need to have two or three years of experience performing consistently well before you can be called into the national team does not apply with me."
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