Bierhoff drops Kuranyi hint for World Cup squad: report

Germany team manager Oliver Bierhoff hinted Saturday that rebel striker Kevin Kuranyi could be set for a shock recall to the national side in time for this June’s World Cup.

Kuranyi has not played for Germany since walking out on the team in October 2008 after being left out of the matchday squad for a World Cup qualifier, prompting coach Joachim Loew to declare he would never pick him again.

However Kuranyi’s 18 goals for Schalke 04 has forced Loew into a re-think.

Ahead of the weekend’s Bundesliga games Kuranyi is joint second in the league scoring charts behind Wolfsburg’s Edin Dzeko, and Bierhoff admits a shock U-turn announcement could be expected by the end of the month.

“We are grateful to have players in great shape,” Bierhoff told Cologne newspaper the Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger.

“I think we would lose neither face nor credibility if we reconsider things: in this case, the previous conduct of Kevin Kuranyi.

“If Joachim Loew decides, for good sporting reasons, that Kevin Kuranyi can help the side, he will make that decision away from outside influences.”

Loew has said he will announce his World Cup squad on May 6, but a decision about whether 28-year-old Kuranyi will be welcomed back into the squad is expected on April 29.

Loew’s first-choice strikers Miroslav Klose of Bayern Munich and Cologne’s Lukas Podolski have scored just four goals between them all season.

The World Cup, in which Germany finished third in 2006, will be held in South Africa from June 11 to July 11.