Germany coach Joachim Loew dropped midfielders Jermaine Jones and Marko Marin and striker Patrick Helmes from his final 23-man squad for the European Championship.
"It was a very difficult decision and it was very close," Loew said in a statement released Wednesday by the German soccer federation.
Marin was a surprise initial choice for the squad, but his removal also came as a surprise after he had been highly praised by Loew during Germany's training camp on Palma de Mallorca.
Helmes and Marin both played second-division soccer in the concluded season, Helmes at Cologne and Marin at Borussia Moenchengladbach. Both teams were promoted. Marin, 19, made his debut in Tuesday's 2-2 draw against Belarus and was believed to be an almost certain member of the final squad.
But Loew chose to go with tested veterans, although some of them are out of form. Tim Borowski has been ill with the flu and has not trained with the team the entire first week of its practice camp at Palma de Mallorca.
"Each of the three players had deserved to be a member of the squad. It was not a decision against their quality, they all left an excellent impression in the training camp," Loew said.
Jones, a rugged midfielder from Schalke, was instead dropped, while David Odonkor, a speedy winger and midfielder, was retained. Odonkor was a surprise choice for the 2006 World Cup squad and set up a crucial goal against Poland, which is again one of Germany's group opponents at next month's tournament in Austria and Switzerland.
Odonkor also had a role in one of Germany's goals Tuesday, an own goal that came off Odonkor's hard cross.
The striker who scored the goal off Odonkor's cross at 2006, Oliver Neuville, also got a place in the squad at age 35.
Neuville was also in the preliminary squads for the 2000 and '04 European Championships but did not make the final cut for either. Along with Marin, he helped Moenchengladbach gain promotion by scoring 15 goals.
He is a naturalized German born in Switzerland will be virtually at home when the team takes up residence at its base for the tournament next week in Ascona, near Lugano.
The only player in the squad without a cap is reserve goalkeeper Rene Adler.
The Germans flew back to Palma immediately after Tuesday's game and the players were told of the final choice Wednesday morning. They will return home later Wednesday.
The team will stay on Mallorca before it returns home for its final warm-up game Saturday against Serbia in Gelsenkirchen.
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Germany's final squad:
Goalkeepers: Rene Adler (Bayer Leverkusen), Robert Enke (Hannover 96), Jens Lehmann (Arsenal).
Defenders: Arne Friedrich (Hertha Berlin), Clemens Fritz (Werder Bremen), Marcell Jansen (Bayern Munich), Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich), Per Mertesacker (Werder Bremen), Christoph Metzelder (Real Madrid), Heiko Westermann (Schalke).
Midfielders: Michael Ballack (Chelsea), Tim Borowski (Werder Bremen), Torsten Frings (Werder Bremen), Thomas Hitzlsperger (Stuttgart), David Odonkor (Betis Sevilla), Simon Rolfes (Bayer Leverkusen), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich), Piotr Trochowski (Hamburger SV).
Forwards: Mario Gomez (Stuttgart), Miroslav Klose (Bayern Munich), Kevin Kuranyi (Schalke), Oliver Neuville (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Lukas Podolski (Bayern Munich).
