Joachim Low, the Germany coach, has urged his squad players to "take their chance" after much of his first-choice XI was ruled out of Wednesday's friendly against England through injury.

Michael Ballack leads the list of absentees which includes Clemens Fritz, Mario Gomez, Marcell Jansen, Miroslav Klose, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Sami Khedira.

"I will be telling my players how much a pleasure it should be to play at Wembley and that they should take their chance," Low said. "The team will be captained by Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Bernd Schneider, who has happy memories of Wembley as a visiting supporter after cheering Germany on to a penalty shoot-out victory over England in the semi-finals of Euro 96.

The team will be captained by Bernd Schneider, the Bayer Leverkusen midfielder, who has happy memories of Wembley as a visiting supporter after cheering Germany on to a penalty shoot-out victory over England in the semi-finals of the European Championships in 1996.

"There is always a particular motivation to play against England. I remember 11 years ago what sort of an atmosphere there was," Schneider said. "Every game I have played here [in England], be it an international, Champions League or Uefa Cup match, has been a beautiful experience. It is incredible how much the fans get behind their team from start to finish."

At the age of 33, Schneider will earn his 79th cap on Wednesday. Furthermore, he will be passing on his experience to the younger players, particularly in the build-up to the match. "Certainly they will be a bit nervous and anxious, but we should all look forward to playing against England. Our situation is not quite how we had imagined it, but we want to prove there is still quality in this team."

Jens Lehmann will start in goal, maybe because Low has yet to see the costly blunders the veteran has committed for Arsenal in each of their opening two Premier League games.

At the back, Christian Pander has been called up and could start his first game since November 2005 while Christoph Metzelder and Per Mertesacker are expected to start in the middle with Philipp Lahm on the right.

Schneider takes his place in midfield alongside Thomas Hitzlsperger, Piotr Trochowski and Roberto Hilbert.

In attack, Kevin Kuranyi will play for the first time with Stefan Kiessling, due largely to the lack of options. "I have partnered him [Kiessling] in training, but never in a game," Kuranyi said. "There are a lot of young players here who will want to take their chance."

Patrick Helmes, of German second division side Cologne, belongs to that group of youngsters ready to launch themselves on the international stage, but before thinking about Wednesday night, the 23-year-old has a club match to play. Cologne are in action against Aachen tonight and Helmes will join up with the squad just in time to fly out to London on Wednesday.

When Helmes returns on Thursday, he will be thrust back into training ahead of Cologne's next second division game on Friday evening. "I think he will cope," Low said. "He is a young lad and I think he will be able to deal with the strains for just one week."