Klose, Schweinsteiger to miss Wembley trip

BERLIN, Aug 19 (Reuters) Germany coach Joachim Loew will be without most of his first choice team for Wednesday's friendly against England at Wembley after Miroslav Klose and Bastian Schweinsteiger became the latest casualties today.

Klose, the top scorer at the 2006 World Cup, had to be substituted at halftime in Bayern Munich's 4-0 win over Werder Bremen on Saturday after taking a heavy blow to his knee early in the game.

Bayern team mate Schweinsteiger complained of back pain after the match and the club announced today that neither player would be joining up with the squad.

Sami Khedira, the VfB Stuttgart player who had been hoping to make his full international debut against England, was also ruled out after suffering a foot injury in yesterday's 3-1 defeat by Hertha Berlin.

Loew later called up David Odonkor of Real Betis and Gonzalo Castro from Bayer Leverkusen to bolster the squad.

Winger Odonkor was a member of the Germany squad that finished third at the World Cup under Juergen Klinsmann last year. Defender Castro has made one appearance for Germany.

Loew had already lost captain Michael Ballack, forwards Mario Gomez, Lukas Podolski and Jan Schlaudraff, midfielders Torsten Frings and Tim Borowski, and full-backs Marcell Jansen and Clemens Fritz.

Ballack, Podolski, Klose, Schweinsteiger, Frings and Jansen are all fixtures in the Germany starting line-up whenever they are fit, meaning most of the coach's preferred team will be absent at Wembley on Wednesday.

REUTERS SSC RK2103