Mertesacker missing for third-place match

A heel injury will keep defender Per Mertesacker out of Germany´s third-place match against Portugal.

It is not yet known how long the 21-year-old Hannover centre-back, who has logged 600 minutes of tournament action, will be on the sidelines, but he is certain to miss the play-off game which will round off the tournament for the hosts.

“Mertesacker has left the World Cup base in Berlin and will undergo heel surgery in Munich today,” German football federation spokesman Harald Stenger said at a press conference in Berlin.