The first day at the Evian team base ended with very bad news for the Germany national team. Antonio Rüdiger, one of Jérôme Boateng's fellow centre-backs, sustained a cruciate ligament rupture. Head coach Joachim Löw has called up Bayer Leverkusen central defender Jonathan Tah to replace the AS Roma stopper. “I deliberately made a like-for-like swap,” Löw declared at a press conference on Tuesday lunchtime.
Boateng completed the full squad programme on Wednesday after a reduced training load on Tuesday evening. “It was just a precaution,” Löw commented, sounding the all-clear. “Jérôme had back problems resulting from the match against Hungary. But everything's fine again.” Joshua Kimmich missed Wednesday's session with a bad cold. “It was sensible for him to take a breather.”
Mats Hummels is making progress. The new Bayern signing completed his first training session with the ball on Wednesday. “It's a very, very positive development,” a delighted Löw commented. The 56-year-old wants to “raise” Hummels' training burden after evaluating the situation “on a day-to-day basis.” The centre-back will definitely miss the first match against Ukraine in Lille on Sunday at 21.00 CET.
Löw handed out words of praise to Mario Götze. “I have a very positive impression,” the Germany head coach said, pleased with Götze's displays in the 3-1 defeat to Slovakia and the 2-0 victory over Hungary. “He played well in both matches, his movement was very good.” Götze has an “outstanding ability to get away from his opponents when there's little space” and is in “top physical condition. I think he's ready for the Euro 2016.”
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