Germany lost playmaker Marco Reus for the World Cup after he injured his ankle in a warm-up match ahead of play in Brazil, the German Football Association (DFB) said Saturday, according to dpa. The 25-year-old offensive player with Borussia Dortmund suffered a partial tear of his syndesmosis ligament in his upper left ankle during the national team's 6-1 clobbering of Armenia Friday night in Mainz. Reus was not expected to be able to return to training for six or seven weeks, the DFB said. "This is extremely regrettable for him and for us," national coach Joachim Loew said. Loew chose Sampdoria Genua defender Shkodran Mustafi to replace Reus, hours before the national team flies to Brazil ahead of Thursday's start to the month-long World Cup. Mustafi was part of the 26-player group that took part in a World Cup training camp, but he had failed to make the 23-player national team announced by Loew Monday. "It wasn't a matter of replacing Marco Reus one-to-one," the coach said Saturday on his decision to choose a defender, adding that he has many offensive options with Lukas Podolski, Andre Schuerrle, Mario Goetze, Thomas Mueller, Mesut Oezil, Julian Draxler and Toni Kroos standing behind forward Miroslav Klose. He chose to widen his defensive options instead, said Loew, who lauded Mustafi's work at the training camp in northern Italy and in friendlies against Cameroon and Armenia. "In our considerations for Brazil, he played a central role," Loew said.
