Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany - Two uncapped players in goalkeeper Rene Adler and teenage midfielder Marko Marin were named Friday in Germany's squad for next month's European Championships, with Valencia's keeper Timo Hildebrand omitted. Joachim Loew has preferred Bayer Leverkusen's Adler, who at 23 is regarded as one of the brightest goalkeeping prospects in the game.
In another surprise, he also included 19-year-old attacking midfielder Markus Marin who has just won promotion with second-division Borussia Moenchengladbach.
Loew chose to sacrifice 29-year-old Hildebrand, who moved to Spain's Valencia from VfB Stuttgart before the season and was regarded as understudy to Jens Lehmann in the Germany goal.
Hildebrand was also a member of the German 2006 World Cup squad.
Robert Enke, 30, of Hanover, who has been the third goalkeeper after breaking into the Germany squad since the World Cup, is in the party.
In a symbolic gesture to demonstrate Germany's aims of reaching European football's summit, Loew announced his squad at the Zugspitz, Germany's highest mountain, overlooking the Austrian border in southern Bavaria.
He has named a provisional party of 26 which will be trimmed to 23 by a May 28 deadline for squad registrations and after a training camp in Majorca beginning on Monday.
Marin, who turned 19 in March, is one of three players who come from second-division sides, including team-mate Oliver Neuville, 33, a veteran of two World Cups, and Patrick Helmes of Cologne, who like Moenchengladbach have also just won promotion.
There are meanwhile midfield places for Schalke's Jermaine Jones, Werder Bremen's Tim Borowski, Hamburg's Piotr Trochowski and David Odonkor of Real Betis, who were all regarded as uncertain candidates.
Loew said the decision to leave out Hildebrand had been particularly difficult.
"All the players omitted were painfully disappointed," Loew said without being drawn on whether it was the end of Hildebrand's international career.
"Of course, Timo Hildebrand in particular is deeply disappointed. What this means for his further career we will have to leave open."
Bosnian-born under-21 international Marin has convinced Loew with his performances this season in Moenchengladbach's successful promotion campaign from the second division.
Although Marin has played only four matches in the top-flight Bundesliga, Loew said he provided something different to the squad.
"He is good man against man. He has a wonderful quality about his play, very strong in on-again-on situations," the coach said.
"He tries to get past an opponent and does suroprising thing. We don't have many players of this type. He has something special and that's why we decided to take him with us."
Germany are in Group B of the tournament in Austria and Switzerland between June 7 and 29, with Austria, Croatia and Poland the group opponents.
Squad: Goalkeepers: Jens Lehmann (Arsenal), Robert Enke (Hanover), Rene Adler (Bayer Leverkusen)
Defenders: Christoph Metzelder (Real Madrid), Per Mertesacker (Werder Bremen), Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich), Arne Friedrich (Hertha Berlin), Marcell Jansen (Bayern Munich), Clemens Fritz (Werder Bremen), Heiko Westermann (Schalke 04)
Midfielder: Michael Ballack (Chelsea), Thomas Hitzlsperger (VfB Stuttgart), Simon Rolfes (Bayer Leverkusen), Torsten Frings (Werder Bremen), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich), Piotr Trochowski (SV Hamburg), Tim Borowski (Werder Bremen), Jermaine Jones (Schalke 04), David Odonkor (Real Betis), Marko Marin (Borussia Moenchengladbach)
Forwards: Miroslav Klose (Bayern Munich), Lukas Podolski (Bayern Munich), Mario Gomez (VfB Stuttgart), Kevin Kuranyi (Schalke 04), Oliver Neuville (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Patrick Helmes (Cologne)
