The Bayern Munich midfielder, who returned to Bavaria to see a specialist after his left knee swelled up on Monday, will be hoping it is nothing more than a twist or a knock and not a recurrence of the infection which forced him to miss the end of last season.

Meanwhile, coach Joachim Low is predicting tough competition for places, not only for Saturday's game against Cyprus, but also for the next seven months leading up to Euro 2008.

"It is not only the games which count, but the training sessions do too and we can use a lot of players still," he said.

"The competition will increase up to 2008."

However, Low will not experiment too extensively and wants all of the players who represent their country to be totally committed - a swipe at the players who celebrated Euro 2008 qualification with a 3-0 defeat to the Czech Republic.

He said: "We will be asking for other things again while others will no longer be tolerated."

Germany face Cyprus on Saturday and then host Wales in their final Euro 2008 qualifier in Frankfurt next Wednesday.