Klose, Schweinsteiger out of England friendly

BERLIN: Bayern Munich striker Miroslav Klose has pulled out of Germany's friendly against England on Wednesday due to a knee injury picked up during his club's 4-0 drubbing of Werder Bremen.

Klose played only the first half of the Bundesliga match on Saturday after being sidelined by a crunching tackle from Brazilian Naldo.

The knock was serious enough to seriously compromise his participation, and he will be joined in watching the match from the sidelines by Bayern teammate Bastian Schweinsteiger, who picked up a back injury in the same match.

The German football federation (DFB) had earlier announced the forfeit of Stuttgart midfielder Sami Khedira, who had been picked for the first time but sustained a foot knock during his side's 3-1 defeat to Hertha Berlin.

The DFB said in a statement: "The team manager (Joachim Loew) will announce later Sunday whether the players will be replaced."

The trio's forfeit adds to a growing list of absentees for Germany, will also be without skipper Michael Ballack, playmaker Torsten Frings, and strikers Lukas Podolski and Mario Gomez.