Adler to start for Germany against Russia

Rene Adler was Germany's third-choice goalkeeper barely four months ago, but with the former No. 1 retired and his successor injured, Adler will be in goal for what could be Germany's most important World Cup qualifying game Saturday against Russia.

The 23-year-old Bayer Leverkusen goalkeeper got the nod Friday from coach Joachim Loew over Werder Bremen's Tim Wiese and will make his debut in Dortmund.

"We have absolute confidence in Rene," goalkeeping coach Andreas Koepke said.

Adler has reason to be wary _ Leverkusen was one of the two German clubs Zenit St. Petersburg knocked out of last season's UEFA Cup, with Adler conceding four goals in the home leg.

Andrei Arshavin and Pavel Pogrebnyak were among the scorers then and they will be back for Russia on Saturday.

Adler gets to play because Robert Enke, who succeeded Jens Lehmann after the European Championship, broke his left hand in practice this week.

"I am very sorry for Robert, we are good friends off the field," Adler said. "I don't rejoice over injuries but in football sometimes you get a chance to play because of injuries or red cards and you want to use it."

Having a novice goalkeeper in an already reshuffled defense could be a problem for Germany, which beat Liechtenstein 6-0 in its opener but struggled to a 3-3 draw in Finland. Russia beat Wales 2-1 in its only Group 4 game so far. Azerbaijan is also in the group.

But Adler said he did not expect a problem with his defenders.

"We've trained together at the Euro, as well as here. I am a part of the team," he said.

The Germans expect a tough match against Russia, which reached the semifinals of the European Championship.

Germany lost the final 1-0 to Spain.

Captain Michael Ballack, who missed the first two qualifiers because of an injury, said his team is well prepared "mentally and physically."

"We are meeting a very strong team, we are aware of that," Ballack said Friday. "We had a good start, we have four points and we know it's going to be tough but we'll try to get another three points."

"Russia played a very strong Euro, they are flying high. Many teams in Europe are envious of Russia's style of play, their quick movement forward. They are one of the top teams in Europe," the Chelsea midfielder said.

"We have a new goalkeeper, some new defenders and we can't expect immediate harmony. We have to place more weight on defense, we can't afford mistakes."

Germany is without defender Marcell Jansen due to a thigh injury and Christoph Metzelder has been dropped from the team.

Russia coach Guus Hiddink has lost central defender Denis Kolodin and striker Roman Pavlyuchenko to ankle injuries, but midfielder Igor Denisov is back in the squad after sitting out Euro 2008.

"It would be good to get a point in Dortmund, but perhaps there is more for us there," Hiddink said.

Germany is No. 3 in FIFA's rankings compared to Russia's No. 9. Germany has won three and drawn one against Russia, while against the former Soviet Union, West Germany also had a winning record with nine wins and three losses.