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Wednesday Kickoff: Hummels and Schmelzer out for Dortmund; Ballon d’Or deadline extended; and more

MatsHummelsGermany1-England (SID)

By DAN KARELL

Germany head coach Joachim Low isn’t feeling the love right now in Dortmund.

After sending a number of his Bayern Munich-based players home from Germany camp following their 1-1 draw with Italy on Friday, Low decided to keep the Borussia Dortmund players in the side, and both Mats Hummels and Marcel Schmelzer have come away from Germany’s 1-0 victory over England with injuries.

The news means that Dortmund will be without another two starters ahead of its biggest game of the season, against Bayern Munich on Saturday. In addition, Jurgen Klopp’s team faces Napoli at home in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday.

Hummels, who is out until January with an ankle ligament problem, gives Klopp a real selection headache with his other starting center back, Neven Subotic, out for the next six months after tearing ligaments in his knee. Schmelzer is set to miss the next three weeks with a calf injury.

Here are some more stories to start your Wednesday:

FIFA BALLON D’OR VOTING DEADLINE EXTENDED

Cristiano Ronaldo’s epic performance on Tuesday in Sweden may have earned him another chance at winning his second FIFA Ballon d’Or trophy.

According to a report in Spanish publication Marca, FIFA has decided to extend the voting deadline for the World Player of the Year award by one week, to Nov. 29. The report states that FIFA wanted to take into account the UEFA playoff matches and other World Cup qualifying games in the last week.

With the reported extension, Ronaldo looks more than likely to win the award this year, as his recent performances are fresh on the mind. His nemesis, Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, has struggled with injury all season and is currently sidelined until January at the earliest.

QUICK KICKS

Lionel Messi has received his third Golden Boot from the European Sports Media for being the top scorer in Europe during the 2012/2013 season. (REPORT)

In its first ever official senior international match, Gibralter has earned a scoreless draw against Slovakia. (REPORT)

Long-time Serie A defender Sinisa Mihajlovic has quit his job as Serbia head coach to take the reigns at his former club Sampdoria. (REPORT)

The South African Football Federation is hoping that FIFA won’t downgrade their 1-0 friendly match victory over Spain after La Roja made a seventh substitution to replace Victor Valdes with Pepe Reina, despite both teams only being allowed six subs.
(REPORT)

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What do you think of these reports? Do you see Dortmund standing a chance against Bayern with another two players injured? Do you believe that Ronaldo could win the Ballon d’Or this year? What did you think of Gibraltar’s famous point?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. It certainly looks like Jogi Low has continued his preferential treatment to FC Bayern players, starting mostly Bayern players Friday against Italy and then releasing Lahm and Neuer and keeping Thomas Muller on the bench yesterday against England whilemishandling Dortmund players by playing them against England ahead of this Saturday’s Dortmund-Bayern game and Dortmund’s must win game against Napoli next Tuesday.

    In any case, I repeat my hope that Klinsmann calls up Jurgen Klopp and suggest he take a look at Omar and Besler.

    Reply
    • There was only Goetze and Kroos right? One could argue that Bayern can spare their attackers but Germany played and injured Dortmund’s defenders of which they have no backup. Grosskreutz can’t play everywhere…

      Stupid of Jogi…. Low is just stupid sometimes. Flat out stupid.

      Reply
      • Well, some would argue that not only is he stupid, but wicked, a stab in the back of Dortmund. All sorts of good things can happen to you if Bayern likes you, and you know Bayern wants total revenge against Dortmund for winnning the Bundesliga in 2011 and 2012, and for actually being a team that is loved outside of Germany and Bayern no doubt is very happy with Jogi. And some German fans speculate that Low cannot stand the thought that fellow German Jurgen Klopp is a much better coach and that an overwhelming majority of non-Bayern fans would prefer Klopp over Low to coach Germany and wants to destabilize him.

        But the silver lining behind all this is that as long as Klinsmann’s good ol’ buddy Jogi Low is coach of Germany, then Germany will never play to its full potential and will be beatable by the USMNT next summer in Brazil.

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