Germany's Frings: `Ties With Coach Loew Restored`

`We have since talked things over and for us this matter is closed`, added Frings.

Germany midfielder Torsten Frings, whose public spat with coach Joachim Loew last year led to him being sidelined, said on Tuesday ties had been fully restored ahead of this week's friendly against Norway.

"It was certainly a mistake to have done it in public. We (Loew and me) could have settled it in a different way," Frings told reporters. "We have since talked things over and for us this matter is closed," added Frings, who has 78 caps.

"I have been with the team eight or nine years and have never done anything negative to the team. Quite the opposite, I have always represented it with pride."

Frings had said in October he was considering retiring from the national team after starting on the bench against Russia and Wales, but later retracted his statement.

He was then dropped altogether from the squad ahead of their friendly match against England in November.

Frings was recalled for Wednesday's friendly with Norway in Duesseldorf along with captain Michael Ballack, who also had run-ins with the coach and manager Oliver Bierhoff following Germany's Euro 2008 final defeat by Spain.

Frings said he did not expect to start every game but felt he was the right age to continue playing for Germany ahead of next year's World Cup in South Africa.

"I think at 32 I am at the right age with considerable experience and good fitness," said Frings. "The whole talk of 'too old' is nonsense."

Germany, who are on track to reach the finals, next face Liechtenstein in Group Four on March 28 and then travel to Wales for another qualifier on April 1.

They are four points clear at the top of the group with 10 points followed on six by Russia, who have a game in hand.