Low turns to Westermann as injuries hit preparations

Hamburg’s Heiko Westermann, has been drafted into the Germany squad for their upcoming World Cup qualifiers against the Republic of Ireland and Sweden after Mats Hummels was forced to withdraw.

Hummels was ruled out of the two games today after severely bruising his right foot in BorussiaDortmund’s 1-1 draw against Hannover at the weekend.

He was the second Dortmund player to withdraw from Joachim Low’s group after Ilkay Gundogan was ruled out after picking up an injury in training on Saturday while Bayer Leverkusen’s Lars Bender also pulled out at the weekend.

Westermann, who used to play as a midfielder for his former club Schalke and can therefore cover the losses both o Bender and Hummels, was yesterday called up for what could be his first appearance in almost two years. The 29-year-old last represented his country when he won his 24th cap in the0-0 draw against Sweden on November 17, 2010.