Uth wins first Germany call up for Nations League clashes
October 5, 2018
Despite his drought since moving to Gelsenkirchen, Mark Uth is getting his chance thanks to a shoulder injury to Freiburg's Nils Petersen, who misses out along with Manchester City's Ilkay Gündogan, who has a thigh problem.
"We have been watching Mark Uth for some time," said Löw of the striker on Friday. "He is dynamic, fast and always a threat in front of goal. Now we want to get to know him better."
Despite failing to find the net in 632 minutes for the Royal Blues, Uth was the joint second top German goalscorer in the Bundesliga last term with his former club, Hoffenheim. He last represented his country in 2010, when he made a substitute appearance for the under-20s against Switzerland, his only action at any national level to date.
Uth's relative lack of pedigree highlights the lack of true strikers at Löw's disposal, with Timo Werner the only other recognized No. 9 in the squad. Both Thomas Müller and Marco Reus have played there in the past, but neither is a natural fit.
"I'm not a center forward, as you can see," said Reus, who has scored and assisted on four goals from behind a frontman for Borussia Dortmund this term.
There are recalls for goalkeeper Kevin Trapp, Uth's teammate Sebastian Rudy and Jonas Hector, who missed the last internationals with fatigue after starting the season early with second-tier Cologne.
Jonathan Tah is the only uninjured man to drop out of the squad that drew 0-0 with France in their Nations League opener in Munich last month, before a narrow win over Peru in a friendly.
Germany travel to Amsterdam to face the Netherlands on Saturday, October 13 and then on to Paris to face the world champions again on the following Tuesday. After the goalless draw in their opener, Löw is placing great importance on the clashes with the neighboring countries.
"We have two important games before us which we are taking very seriously," Löw said. "The results will be indicative of how we fare in our Nations League group. There is also a lot of prestige involved in both games."