Germany name provisional squad for Euro 2000

Under fire Germany coach Erich Ribbeck has named Jens Jeremies in his provision Euro 2000 squad list.

Ribbeck dumped Jeremies from his squad for the April 26th friendly against Switzerland after the Bayern Munich player told 'Kicker' magazine that German squad had not improved since the 1998 World Cup finals and they had no chance of retaining their European title.

Ribbeck said last week that Jeremies would remain in contention for the Euro finals in June despite his criticism. Captain Oliver Bierhoff called last month for an end to Ribbeck's experimentation with the squad and wanted a settled side named well before the end of May. The lack of surprises in the provisional list shows Ribbeck has taken the Milan player's advice.

There is no place for Bayern's Liverpool-bound defender Markus Babbel but young Hertha Berlin star Sebastian Deisler is in contention for a place in the final 22 despite recent injury problems. Fiorentina defender Jorge Heinrich does not make the initial selection.

The Germany squad must be finalised by the June 1st deadline for the finals which kick off on June 10th.

The provisional list in full -

Goalkeepers - Kahn (Bayern Munich), Lehmann (Borussia Dortmund) and Butt (Hamburg).

Defenders - Linke and Babbel (Bayern Munich), Matthaeus (MetroStars New York), Nowotny (Bayer Leverkusen), Rehmer (Hertha Berlin) and Worns (Borussia Dortmund).

Midfielders - Ziege (Middlesbrough), Ballack and Beinlich (Bayer Leverkusen), Deisler and Wosz (Hertha Berlin), Jeremies and Scholl (Bayern Munich), Hamann (Liverpool).

Strikers - Bierhoff (Milan), Bode (Werder Bremen), Kirsten, Neuville and Rink (Bayer Leverkusen).

Jancker and Zickler (Bayern Munich) and Preetz (Hertha Berlin) were named as reserves.