The World Cup Countdown: German match canceled

• by Paul Kennedy  @pkedit, May 27, 2014

[BRAZIL 2014] Germany's World Cup team had to cancel a match against Germany's under-20 national team at its its mountain camp in Italy after two players were involved in an accident at a race track that resulted in two people being taken to a hospital, one with serious injuries.

German soccer federation sponsor Mercedes-Benz was filming a commercial involving Mercedes-Benz race car drivers and the national team players.

Schalke 04's Benedikt Hoewedes and Julian Draxler were not injured in the accident. They were passengers when race car drivers Pascal Wehrlein and Nico Rosberg were doing laps on a short-circuit track near the German team's hotel in South Tyrol. Neither driver was injured.

Germany coach Joachim Loew called off the match and instead held a closed-door practice at which both Hoewedes and Draxler both took part.

The accident came the same day Lowe acknowledged he had lost his driver's license for repeated speeding violations. Loew said he ''unfortunately'' drives too fast at times. He added that he needs to ''restrain himself'' and promises to change his ''driving behavior.''

Loew would not say how long he'll be without a license but Bild said it was for at least six months.

World Cup Warmups

JAPAN-CYPRUS. Schalke defender Atsuto Uchida scored the lone goal as Japan began its World Cup preparations with a 1-0 win over Cyprus at the Saitama Stadium.

Pre-World Cup Friendlies, Tuesday:
May 27 in Saitama
Japan 1 Cyprus 0
May 27 in St. Denis
France vs. Norway
May 27 in San Francisco
USA vs. Azerbaijan