Neuville, Baumann handed chance
 |  Neuville has not played for Germany in nearly 12 months |
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CELJE, Slovenia -- Oliver Neuville and Frank Baumann have been given a chance to impress Germany coach Juergen Klinsmann in Saturday's friendly in Slovenia.
Klinsmann will start both Neuville and Baumann, who have been neglected since he took charge eight months ago.
Borussia Moenchengladbach striker Neuville won the last of his 48 caps in April 2004 and Werder Bremen captain Baumann has only played once for Klinsmann, in August.
Germany, who as hosts automatically qualified for the 2006 World Cup finals, have been using friendlies to try out inexperienced players.
But with Germany also hosting the Confederations Cup this June, Klinsmann wants to start polishing his team.
"It's an important test against Slovenia and the last chance to take a look at some other players before the Confederations Cup," said assistant coach Joachim Loew.
"We're hoping for a positive result," said captain Michael Ballack, warning against complacency in a match against a team that beat Italy 1-0 in October.
"That we've got some players who want to prove themselves should give us the right attitude," he added.
Germany have five wins, two draws and one defeat under Klinsmann.
Slovenia's hopes of a positive result were hit by the loss of first-choice goalkeeper Borut Mavricwith a calf injury and Lille midfielder Milenko Acimovic, who hurt an ankle in the team's final training session.
"This is a very hard blow for us since Mile Acimovic is our best player and we have no adequate replacement for him," said coach Brane Oblak.
Acimovic could be replaced by Aleksandar Rodic, Andrej Komac or Goran Sukalo, called in to give the squad added height.
Slovenia will have one eye on their European Group Five qualifier at home against Belarus on Wednesday.
Slovenia are third in their group, two points behind leaders Italy and three ahead of fourth-placed Belarus.
Probable teams:
Slovenia: Samir Handanovic; Matej Mavric, Aleksander Knavs, Bostjan Cesar, Simon Seslar, Jalen Pokorn, Nastja Ceh, Andrej Komac, Goran Sukalo, Ermin Siljak, Sebastjan Cimirotic
Germany: Oliver Kahn; Andreas Hinkel, Arne Friedrich, Robert Huth, Christian Schulz; Frank Baumann, Michael Ballack, Torsten Frings, Oliver Neuville; Kevin Kuranyi, Lukas Podolski
