Star InactiveStar InactiveStar InactiveStar InactiveStar Inactive

story.frings.afp.jpg

CNN - Bayern Munich midfielder Torsten Frings has pulled out of Germany's friendly in Iran on Saturday because of a thigh injury and will not be replaced in the squad.

Frings has failed to recover from the muscle injury sustained in Bayern's 2-1 win over Bundesliga champions Werder Bremen on Saturday.

The match proved costly for coach Juergen Klinsmann, depriving him of Werder defender Frank Fahrenhorst with a broken nose. Dortmund's Christian Woerns was called up as understudy.

Goalkeeper Oliver Kahn has been rested, while striker Kevin Kuranyi, who has scored four goals in his last two internationals, is injured and will also be missing when the 19-strong squad heads for Tehran on Thursday..

Saturday's match will be 2006 World Cup hosts Germany's first game in Tehran. 

The two sides have played just once, a World Cup group match in 1998 which Germany won 2-0.

"We want to make further progress after Austria and Brazil. We want to push forward quickly, play with confidence, show aggressiveness and win," Klinsmann said on Tuesday in reference to his first two matches in charge.

Germany beat Austria 3-1 in August and played well in a 1-1 draw with Brazil in Berlin a month ago.

Klinsmann talks
Klinsmann is to meet federation officials later this month in an attempt to iron out the problems surrounding the choice of Leverkusen as World Cup camp.

The DFB and former coach Rudi Voeller last year reached an agreement with Bayer Leverkusen to use their stadium as a training ground and live in nearby Bergisch Gladbach.

But new coach Klinsmann and several leading players have questioned the deal and want to rethink the lodging and training quarters.

Klinsmann and team manager Oliver Bierhoff met with designated DFB chief Theo Zwanziger in Munich on Tuesday. Zwanziger had always insisted that the deal with Leverkusen has to be fulfilled.

Klinsmann said after the meeting that there was "no stress", but he maintained his position that it was up to the technical staff to decide such matters.

The parties agreed to a further meeting on October 21 after the DFB AGM.

Meanwhile the coach has received support from DFB president Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder, who said on Tuesday that it was important that a compromise situation be found.

"After 25 years in professional football, I have realised that it is important not to push coaches into a corner. They need to have a little bit of space," he said.

Top