BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s Marco Reus and twins Sven and Lars Bender have been ruled out of the World Cup Group C qualifier against Ireland on Friday and next week’s tie in Sweden.
Hamburg SV midfielder Heiko Westermann has been called up into the German squad.
Sven Bender picked up injuries to his adductor muscle and back when Borussia Dortmund lost 2-0 at Borussia Moenchengladbach in the Bundesliga at the weekend and will be sidelined for around 10 days, the German soccer association (DFB) said on Monday.
His twin brother Lars sustained a muscle injury in Bayer Leverkusen’s draw against Bayern Munich and pulls out of the national team for the second consecutive time.
Dortmund’s Reus was also ruled out later on Monday after partially tearing an ankle ligament in the same game as Sven Bender and will be out of action for an estimated two weeks, his club said.
Germany need two points from their last two games against Ireland and Sweden to top the group and advance to next year’s World Cup finals in Brazil.
They host Ireland before travelling to Sweden four days later.
The 30-year-old Westermann has won 26 caps, his last appearance coming in a friendly against United States in June.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Tony Jimenez and Alison Wildey)
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