Schulz pulls out

Defender Christian Schulz was forced to pull out of Germany's Confederations Cup squad on Tuesday because of a badly bruised leg. He will not be replaced, the German Football Association announced on the eve of the country's opening match against Australia. LIVE 18:00cet on Wednesday.

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Image credit: TNT Sports

The Werder Bremen player originally suffered the injury in training ahead of Germany's friendly international against Northern Ireland on June 4 and he was definitively ruled out after a series of tests on Tuesday.

"We didn't want to pull anyone out of the World Youth Championship in the Netherlands as a replacement," coach Juergen Klinsmann said on the DFB website. "The young players can get more experience there. We didn't want to bring in anyone directly from their holidays either. They would not have the necessary fitness level."

Germany face Australia on Wednesday before playing Tunisia and Argentina in their remaining Group A games. World champions Brazil are in Group B along with European champions Greece, Japan and Mexico.

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