GOMEZ SNUBBED BY LOW FOR GERMANY'S PROVISIONAL WORLD CUP SQUAD

D. Ray Morton, 8th May 2014.

Once Germany's first-choice striker, injuries and a move to Serie A have resulted in losing his place

Germany manager Joachim Low named his 30-man provisional World Cup squad today with the notable exclusion of Fiorentina target man Mario Gomez. The selection of thirty will be reduced to twenty-three for the final tournament. Here are the thirty players who will be considered for the final squad:

Goalkeepers: Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Roman Weidenfeller (Borussian Dortmund), Ron-Robert Zieler (Hannover)

Zieler has made the squad on merit, not on reputation or high profile transfer speculation

Defenders: Jerome Boateng (Bayern Munich), Erik Durm (Borussia Dortmund), Kevin Grosskreutz (Borussia Dortmund), Benedikt Howedes (Schalke), Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund), Marcell Jansen (Hamburg), Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich), Per Mertesacker (Arsenal), Shkodran Mustafi (Sampdoria), Marcel Schmelzer (Borussia Dortmund).

Hummels can be a vital at the World Cup but must prove his development has not stalled

Midfielders: Lars Bender (Bayer Leverkusen), Julian Draxler (Schalke), Matthias Ginter (Freiburg), Leon Goretzka (Schalke), Mario Gotze (Bayern Munich), Andre Hahn (Augsburg), Sami Khedira (Real Madrid), Toni Kroos (Bayern Munich), Max Meyer (Schalke), Mesut Ozil (Arsenal), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich), Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund), Andre Schurrle (Chelsea).

Ozil has had an up-and-down season at Arsenal and will need to rediscover his top form if Germany are to excel

Strikers: Miroslav Klose (Lazio), Kevin Volland (Hoffenheim), Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich), Lukas Podolski (Arsenal).

Here at SoccerStash, we have discussed why we don't feel Germany will win the World Cup before; a combination of big game anxiety, squad deficiencies and lack of a top striker and leaving Mario Gomez out only compounds this notion further. Of the entire thirty men listed, only veteran Miroslav Klose can be identified as a proper, out-and-out front man.

Looking at it from top to bottom, the goalkeeper selection makes sense. Marc Andre Ter-Stegen, who has been heavily linked to a move to Barcelona throughout the season, will feel disappointed not to be amongst the three chosen. Perhaps his form doesn't warrant a place and maybe the Camp Nou outfit will approach a more accomplished keeper despite his supposed comfort on the ball and his ability to play as a "keeper sweeper" in the same vein as the out-going Victor Valdes.

The error last summer that waved a red flag over Ter Stegen's credentials as an international-class goalkeeper

Sami Khedira is a surprise inclusion in that his season and World Cup looked dead and buried after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament earlier on in the season. When fit, Khedira is a reliable midfield destroyer, a vital player who sits as the rest of the midfield bombs forward with quick counter attacks. His place in the thirty might only mean an assessment of his condition and he may not necessarily make the final squad.

Khedira blowing out his knee last year but could yet recover in time for Brazil

Several inexperienced players at international level are included: Erik Durm, Shkodran Mustafi, Matthias Ginter, Leon Goretzka and Max Meyer. They have been included in the provisional panel in order to get a feel for the national team, priming them for the EURO 2016 qualification process more than likely.

But with Gomez out and Klose as the only true No. 9, how will Germany approach this World Cup tactically? Do they intend to start the 35 year-old (who'll be 36 on June 9th) and play him throughout the tournament or perhaps they'll experiment by fielding an attacking midfield or a winger in the oh-so-hip "false 9" role? Bayern Munich dabbled with the idea of using Mario Gotze like that earlier in the season but Pep Guardiola decided to abandon the experiment when he figured Gotze's finishing was not up to the same standard as the ultimate false 9, Lionel Messi.

Gotze, a fine No. 10 but as a "false 9", Messi he is not

Low's selection has the element of surprise about it. Either that or confusion. Does he knows his best team and how will their group opponents, Portugal, Ghana and the United States fare against them? World Cup Group G should be very interesting.