Wiese ruled out until New Year
Hoffenheim goalkeeper Tim Wiese will be sidelined for the rest of the year, and could possibly have played his final game for the club.
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Wiese, 30, injured his right knee in training and was replaced by Hoffenheim reserve keeper Koen Castelen, 20, for Sunday's 2-1 home defeat to Bayer Leverkusen.
The injury means Wiese will miss matches against Nurnberg, former club Werder Bremen, Hamburg and champions Borussia Dortmund before the winter break, with the season resuming on January 19.
The former Germany international signed from Bremen in the summer and has subsequently lost his place in Joachim Loew's squad, with Borussia Moenchengladbach's Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Hannover's Ron-Robert Zieler and Hamburg's Rene Adler all now ahead of him in the pecking order behind first-choice Manuel Neuer.
With Hoffenheim struggling at the wrong end of the table, Wiese has conceded 23 goals in his eight league appearances so for this term. He is contracted to the club until 2016, but the team's poor campaign and uncertainty over the future of coach Markus Babbel has led to speculation the keeper will seek a move in January.
Babbel was backed by Hoffenheim's general manager Andreas Muller after the Leverkusen defeat left them 16th in the table, with media reports suggesting the coach could be fired if his team loses to Nurnberg on Wednesday.
"I am totally calm," Muller said. "I know, we will turn things around."
Babbel, however, was more downbeat about his prospects.
"I know the business; I've been around long enough," he said. "Either you are a good coach or a bad coach, and right now I'm a bad coach because the results are poor.
"Judgements are quick to be made when the results are poor, but my team are not dead - they are alive, only they are failing to reward themselves."
