Löw calls up Waldschmidt to Germany squad for 1st time

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BERLIN (AP) — Germany coach Joachim Löw called up Luca Waldschmidt for the first time on Thursday and recalled Toni Kroos, Marc-André ter Stegen and Emre Can for European Championship qualifiers against the Netherlands and Northern Ireland.

The 23-year-old Waldschmidt, the leading scorer with seven goals at the Under-21 European Championship, is making the step up to the senior team for the games in Hamburg on Sept. 6 and Belfast three days later.

Kroos and ter Stegen missed Germany's 2-0 win over Belarus and 8-0 rout of Estonia in June with injuries, while Can is back in the squad for the first time since last October.

Löw himself is making a return after missing the games in June because of an injury he sustained in the gym. Markus Sorg took over as interim coach.

Manchester City winger Leroy Sané is out with anterior cruciate ligament damage, while Paris Saint-Germain teammates Julian Draxler and Thilo Kehrer are also injured. Chelsea defender Antonio Rüdiger is missing because he has only recently returned from injury.

Germany has three wins from three games in qualifying for Euro 2020 and is three points behind Northern Ireland, which has won four. The Netherlands has three points from two games in Group C.