Germany coach down with flu, four miss training

ERASMIA, South Africa - Germany coach Joachim Loew was forced to skip training and stay in bed on Friday, a day before his team's third place playoff against Uruguay, after coming down with a flu virus, the team said.

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Loew, whose future as Germany coach will be decided after the World Cup, will, however, travel to Port Elizabeth with the team for Saturday's match.

Captain Philipp Lahm, Lukas Podolski, Miroslav Klose and second choice keeper Tim Wiese were also missing from the training session at Atteridgeville near Pretoria, recovering from minor injuries.

Germany lost 1-0 to Spain in their semi-final on Wednesday and will play Uruguay, who were defeated 3-2 by Netherlands.