International Career
After collecting 18 Under-21-caps, Hildebrand made his full international debut for Germany on 28 April 2004 in a friendly against Romania in Bucharest as he came on to substitute Oliver Kahn after the first half and a 0–4 halftime score (Germany eventually lost 1–5).
Hildebrand participated in three consecutive tournaments for Germany, Euro 2004, 2005 Confederations Cup and World Cup 2006, as Germany's third-choice goalkeeper, playing his first competitive game for Germany at the 2005 Confederations Cup against Argentina (final score 2–2). After Kahn's retirement from international football in 2006, Hildebrand stepped up to become Germany's number two and was Jens Lehmann's natural replacement during the Euro 2008 qualification. Somewhat surprisingly, Joachim Löw dropped Hildebrand from the final squad for the tournament and picked Robert Enke and René Adler ahead of him. Although Löw stated that Hildebrand was an important player and may return to the set-up in near future, he has yet to appear for Germany since Euro 2008.
Read more about this topic: Timo Hildebrand
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