A turbulent climax to the German football season has left national team coach Rudi Voeller with a number of injury worries ahead of Germany's friendly international against Slovakia today.

Many German internationals are still recovering from bruising encounters in the dying days of the season which saw Bayern Munich hang on to their title, holding off Schalke 04, before winning the Champions League in Milan days later.

One of the chief casualties of the hair-raising end to the season was Bayern defender Thomas Linke, who might miss not only the Slovakia game in Bremen but also World Cup qualifiers away to Finland and Albania on June 2 and 6 respectively.

Germany currently lead the group which also includes second-placed England and Voeller's men are ideally placed to qualify for next year's World Cup finals. But the coach warned against allowing complacency to set in.

"We can't allow anyone to think that nothing matters now because of our good position. We have to be careful not to stupidly concede our position. Only players who are 100 percent involved mentally can help us," Voeller said.

"The game is important as it will help us get serious again after a relaxed week. The players can bid for a place in the qualification games. So it's a big milestone," he said.

"I hope we sell ourselves like a German team that has something to achieve."

Linke sustained his sore ankle in Bayern's victory on penalties over Valencia in Wednesday's Champions League final.

Schalke narrowly missed out on the championship but could take solace in winning the German Cup on Saturday.

They impressed in the run-in and two of their top players may be picked for the national team for the first time Ghana-born Gerald Asamoah and Joerg Boehme, who scored his side's goals in a 2-0 win over little Union Berlin in the Cup final.

Bayern midfielders Mehmet Scholl and Jens Jeremies and Borussia Dortmund wing back Joerg Heinrich are also injured.

Werder Bremen's Marco Bode is out of contention, while Liverpool midfielder Dietmar Hamann, who had a busy end of season too with FA Cup and UEFA Cup wins, is also out and Voeller faces a real selection headache.

The long list of injuries could be a chance for Freiburg's Kehl and Borussia Dortmund's Metzelder, both under-21 internationals, to make their mark.

For Slovakia, the friendly against Germany will be their last preparation for their World Cup qualifier against Sweden in Stockholm on June 2 and coach Jozef Adamec wants to use as many as possible of the 24 players he had nominated for the match.

Sunderland defender Stanislav Varga is expected to be the only Slovak player to remain on the field in Bremen for the full 90 minutes. Adamec will narrow his squad to 20 after the friendly with Germany.

"I am glad that Slovak Futball Association allowed me to take 24 players I want all of them to play. Germany play in a similar style as Sweden; fast and tough in one-on-one contests, so my players must prepare for this," the Slovak daily Narodna Obroda quoted Adamec as saying.

PROBABLE TEAMS

Germany: Jens Lehmann (Borussia Dortmund); Marko Rehmer (Hertha Berlin), Jens Nowotny (Bayer Leverkusen), Frank Baumann (Werder Bremen), Lars Ricken (Borussia Dortmund), Michael Ballack, Carsten Ramelow (both Bayer Leverkusen), Christian Ziege (Liverpool), Sebastian Deisler (Hertha Berlin), Oliver Neuville (Bayer Leverkusen), Oliver Bierhoff (Inter Milan)

Slovakia: Miroslav Koenig (Skoda Xanthi); Miroslav Karhan (Besiktas Istanbul), Milan Timko (Kocaelispor), Stanislav Varga (Sunderland), Vladimir Labant (Sparta Prague), Attila Pinte (Ferencvaros), Igor Demo (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Robert Tomaschek (Hearts), Peter Dzurik (Inter Bratislava), Vratislav Gresko (Inter Milan), Szilard Nemeth (Inter Bratislava)

Referee: Claude Colombo (France)