Loew to discuss Ballack’s Germany future

Germany coach Joachim Loew said on Wednesday he will discuss captain Michael Ballack’s future in the national team only after this summer’s World Cup and expects the veteran to play for a few more years.

Ballack, 33, has said he would like to play two more years at Premier League giants Chelsea and has no desire to end his career with Germany at the moment.

After a string of impressive performances for his country, Ballack is showing no sign of slowing down despite making his Germany debut in April 1999.

“We will discuss whether he wants to continue after the World Cup,” Loew told German magazine Sports Bild.

“Michael Ballack can surely play at the highest level for a few more years, but he must be prepared to maintain the workload.”

Germany’s performance at the 2010 World Cup, where they have been drawn with Australia, Ghana and Serbia in the group stages, will influence Ballack’s future in the national side, added Loew.

“We will need to see how things go at the 2010 World Cup,” he said.

Ballack has represented Germany at two World Cups and two European Championships and he has played at Chelsea since 2006 after Kaiserslautern (1997-99), Bayer Leverkusen (1999-2002) and Bayern Munich (2002-06).

He has won 97 caps for his country, scoring 42 goals in the process, and he is set to make his 100th appearance for Germany in the friendly against Hungary in Budapest on May 29.

And While the German Football Federation have only sold 1,916 of the 21,000 available tickets allocated by FIFA for German fans at the World Cup, Loew says he hopes the sluggish response will pick up speed as the tournament draws near.

“I hope the sales will pick up and as many fans as possible will decide at short notice to fly to Africa,” he said.