Bayer Leverkusen's Rene Adler was set to be Joachim Low's first-choice goalkeeper in South Africa this summer but will now miss the tournament as he needs surgery on a broken rib.

Either Schalke's Manuel Neuer and Werder Bremen's Tim Wiese will now be handed the gloves - the odds are it will be Neuer - and there is a noticeable lack of experience among the pair, which Low will be hoping does not prove a problem.

Neither has ever played a competitive match for Germany, and only Wiese has played European football this term, in the Europa League rather than the Champions League.

Robert Enke of Hannover may have headed to South Africa as Germany's number one, but he committed suicide last November after a long battle with depression in an incident which cast a shadow over the whole German season.

Going into a major tournament with three relative newcomers will be a new experience for Germany, who for so long were able to count on Jens Lehmann, whose penalty shoot-out heroics helped see off Argentina in the quarter-finals four years ago, and in particular Oliver Kahn, who won the Golden Ball at the 2002 World Cup.

The first-choice keeper is unlikely to have the luxury of time to find his feet in the tournament, with Germany drawn in one of the toughest pools - Group D, alongside Serbia, Ghana and Australia.

And Lehmann has not been shy in voicing his concerns.

"If you want to be world champions, it is difficult to do so with Manuel Neuer as number one," he said in Sport Bild magazine.

"He has continually made mistakes."

Things are also looking far from rosy for Germany at the other end of the pitch, with Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski desperately short of goals this season, while Mario Gomez has hardly set the world alight in his first campaign at Bayern Munich.

And despite strong calls for his inclusion, Low has opted not to take in-form Kevin Kuranyi, who has been ostracised by the national coach since storming away from the Westfalenstadion in Dortmund before the final whistle after being omitted from the matchday squad for the qualifier against Russia in October 2008.

"After consideration among our coaching staff we came to the conclusion that we had other ideas, tactically and personnel-wise, for the composition of the World Cup squad," Low said, explaining their previous spat was not a factor in the decision.

Germany are, though, blessed with several young attacking midfielders, any one of whom could see their already considerable stock rise even higher this summer and could prove Low's saving grace.

Bayern duo Thomas Muller and Toni Kroos - the latter has spent the season on loan at Leverkusen - and Werder Bremen's Mesut Ozil will be among the best young players at the tournament.

Ozil, in particular, could just turn out to be the star in South Africa.

And alongside older heads like Michael Ballack and Bastian Schweinsteiger, the quartet will give Germany a blend of exciting youth and dependable experience in the middle of the pitch.

After dropping just four points during their qualifying campaign - a 3-3 draw in Finland and a 1-1 draw in the return game when their participation in South Africa was already guaranteed - Germany drew at home to the Ivory Coast and lost at home to Argentina in their next two friendlies.

And, given the pool they have been drawn in, they will need to hit the ground running in South Africa.

"It's far from being an easy group. The first job is to stand your ground against all these teams," Podolski told www.fifa.com.

"There are no easy opponents these days, and especially not at the World Cup. But I'm convinced that if we play to our potential, we'll qualify from our group and could go far."

Whether they can go one step further than they managed in Euro 2008 remains to be seen.