Hitz back in German fold

Aston Villa midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger has been included in Germany's squad to face Argentina next Wednesday.

German boss Jurgen Klinsmann named Hitzlsperger, fit-again Bremen defender Frank Fahrenhorst and in-form Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Paul Freier, all of whom missed the December tour of Asia.

Missing from the tour squad are Bremen's Tim Borowski, Kaiserslautern midfielder Marco Engelhardt, whilst Schalke left back Christian Pander, who played in the recent charity game against the Bundesliga All Stars, will also have to wait for his first international cap.

As expected, Klinsmann has included out-of-favour Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann in the squad as cover for number one Oliver Kahn, as Germany attempt to beat one of the world's leading football nations for the first time since their 1-0 triumph over England at Wembley in 2000.

German squad:
Oliver Kahn (Bayern Munich), Jens Lehmann (Arsenal), Frank Fahrenhorst (Werder Bremen), Arne Friedrich (Hertha Berlin), Andreas Hinkel (Stuttgart), Per Mertesacker (Hannover), Patrick Owomoyela (Bielefeld), Christian Schulz (Werder Bremen), Christian Worns (Borussia Dortmund), Michael Ballack (Bayern Munich), Fabian Ernst (Werder Bremen), Paul Freier (Bayer Leverkusen), Torsten Frings (Bayern Munich), Thomas Hitzlsperger (Aston Villa), Bernd Schneider (Bayer Leverkusen), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich), Gerald Asamoah (Schalke), Miroslav Klose (Werder Bremen), Kevin Kuranyi (Stuttgart), Lukas Podolski (Cologne)