"He trained normally on Thursday evening and I am expecting him to be able to play on Saturday," said Loew.

Friedrich had been suffering from gastro-enteritis since Monday and Loew had feared a worsening defensive crisis ahead of the Euro 2008 double-header, which includes a match against San Marino on Wednesday.

Loew is already without four central defenders from his World Cup squad as Per Mertesacker, Robert Huth, Jens Nowotny and Christoph Metzelder are all injured.

Friedrich should now take his place alongside Manuel Friedrich as centre-backs with Philipp Lahm and Marcell Jansen playing as full-backs.

Loew said he would play young Bayern Munich forward Lukas Podolski from the start, even though he is currently only a subsitute at the German champions.

"We need the qualities that Lukas can bring the team," said Loew, who will partner the former Cologne star with Werder Bremen's Miroslav Klose.