Joachim Low named his provisional 27-man German team for the World Cup Thursday. It's a blend of youth, experience, and a surprise omission.

Hans-Jorg Butt (Bayern) will be the third goalkeeper in camp. He likely starts well behind Manuel Neuer (Schalke) and Tim Wiese (Bremen). Butt and Wiese will face off in the German Cup on the 15th.

Bayern Muenchen placed seven men in the squad; they won't be arriving until after the Champions' League final May 22.

Thomas Hitzlsperger was left out despite being a regular in the side over the last four years. The midfielder moved from Stuttgart to Lazio in the winter transfer window, and only made three appearances for the Romans since the switch. Low felt he had no choice but to dump Hitzlsperger, fearing that the left-sider was rusty.  

Youth was served in the call-ups of defenders Dennis Aogo (Hamburger) and Holger Badstuber (Bayern). Neither has been capped for the senior international team, but each had a good spell as U21s. Thomas Muller (Bayern) has one senior cap at age 25 and could see time on the front line in South Africa given the struggles this season of Lukas Podolski (Koln) and Miroslav Klose (Bayern).

Provisional Squad (four to be cut):

Goalkeepers: Hans-Jorg Butt, Manuel Neuer, Tim Wiese

Defenders: Per Mertesacker, Heiko Westermann, Philipp Lahm, Jerome Boateng, Andrea Beck, Arne Friedrich, Serdar Tasci, Marcell Jansen, Holger Badstuber, Dennis Aogo.

Midfielders: Michael Ballack, Sami Khedira, Piotr Trochowski, Marko Marin, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Christian Trasch, Mesut Ozil, Toni Kroos.

Forwards: Lukas Podolski, Miroslav Klose, Stefan Kiessling, Cacau, Thomas Muller, Mario Gomez.

Redshirts:
Tobias Sippel, Mats Hummels, Kevin Grosskreutz, Stefan Reinartz and Marco Reus