UEFA Euro 2012

Arsenal defender Per Mertesacker has been named in his country’s Euro 2012 squad despite not having played since February due to an ankle injury.

Coach Joachim Low’s 27-man squad also includes Mertesacker’s future Emirates team-mate and striker Lukas Podolski, uncapped 18-year-old midfielder Julian Draxler and former Manchester United and Northampton Town goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler.

Other members of Low’s party include classy Bayern Munich shot-stopper Manuel Neuer, defenders Holger Badstuber (Bayern Munich), Jerome Boateng (Bayern Munich), Mats Hummels (Dortmund) and Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich); midfielders Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich), Sami Khedira (Real Madrid), Sven Bender (Dortmund), Toni Kroos (Bayern Munich), Marco Reus (Moenchengladbach) and Mesut Ozil (Real Madrid) and strikers Mario Gomez and Thomas Muller (both from Bayern Munich), Miroslav Klose (Lazio) and Andreas Schurrle (Leverkusen).

Germany will be training (preparing) in Sardinia and said Low: “We are quietly confident as always, that we shall do well. If we can reach the final I will be delighted; if we win the Championship, I will be deliriously happy, ecstatic in fact.”

I personally think they are good enough, strong enough and experienced enough to reach the semi-final stage at least. But one mistake at the back can prove costly!