Injured Ballack to miss Ivory Coast friendly

Captain Michael Ballack will miss Germany’s World Cup warm-up clash on Wednesday against the Ivory Coast as the Chelsea star has failed to recover from a minor knee injury, coach Joachim Loew said.

“We can definitely say that Michael Ballack will not play on Wednesday,” Loew told reporters on Monday.

“He has an infection in the back of the knee and there has been a reaction,” the coach said.

“After consultation with the doctors – I also spoke to Michael Ballack this morning – I have decided that he will not play. He needs maybe two or three days of rest,” the coach continued.

The 33-year-old midfielder has not trained since last week, Loew said, adding that he would also not sit on the bench but would stay with the squad.

“It makes no sense to take risks, also in terms of Chelsea as they have quite a few games leading up to Christmas and afterwards,” he said.

Germany will also be without striker Miroslav Klose because he is in quarantine after his twin sons contracted swine flu.

Loew also said he had not yet decided who would start in goal for the team, following the suicide of top goalkeeper Robert Enke, whose death is sure to overshadow the match in Gelsenkirchen, western Germany.

Black armbands will be worn and a minute’s silence will be observed for Enke, whose sudden suicide after suffering depression plunged football-mad Germany into mourning.

A planned friendly on Saturday against Chile was cancelled as a result of Enke’s death as time runs out for Loew to finalise his squad before the team heads off to the World Cup in South Africa in June.