Germany Vs Bosnia Preview

Joachim Low's Germany side will take on Bosnia on Thursday as their final preparation for their opening game against Australia.

The match in Frankfurt's Waldstadion, just a stone's throw from the German Football Association's headquarters, is Germany's last before they fly out to South Africa on Sunday and Low is using it as a dress rehearsal for the clash with the Socceroos on June 13.

"We want to get ourselves into shape for the first group game against Australia," said Low.

"We also want to leave our fans with a football festival and get them onto our side, and we would also like to end our World Cup preparations with a success if possible."

Low may be prevented from picking his first choice XI due to a stomach bug which kept goalkeeper Manuel Neuer out of training yesterday.

Should the Schalke custodian miss out, then Tim Wiese of Werder Bremen will step in, according to the hierarchy unveiled by the goalkeeping coach Andreas Kopke.

Elsewhere in the team, Low will try out his new central midfield pair of Sami Khedira and Bastian Schweinsteiger, although they have never played together from the start before and the pair have been getting to know each other in training this week.

"It is a shame that we did not have more time to get used to playing together, but I cannot see any fundamental problems," said Schweinsteiger.

"I have faith in Sami's ability and good players always get on well together on the field."

Philipp Lahm will lead the team out for the first time as the new Germany captain and he is eager to show the world what the Euro 2008 runners-up are capable of.

"Despite all of the players who have dropped out injured, we still have a team who can achieve a lot at the World Cup," he said. "We want to show that in this warm-up match."

Low's only real headache is in attack, where Miroslav Klose looked far from his best form in a 3-0 win over Hungary at the weekend.

His place is therefore under threat from Cacau, the man who replaced him and scored in Budapest, and Stefan Kiessling, the highest-scoring German player in the Bundesliga last season.

After tomorrow's match, the Germany players will be given two days off to spend with their families before returning to Frankfurt on Sunday for their flight out to South Africa, arriving less than seven days before their campaign begins in Durban.