Rebel Kuranyi hopes for World Cup reprieve

Germany’s rebel striker Kevin Kuranyi said on Sunday he still hopes his Bundesliga form can force national coach Joachim Loew into a U-turn and select him for the World Cup.

Kuranyi, 28, has now scored 15 goals this season for Schalke 04 after netting in Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Hamburg which left the Royal Blues second in the Bundesliga table.

He is joint second in the Bundesliga’s goal-scorer tables behind Bayer Leverkusen’s Stefan Kiessling (16) and level with Dortmund’s Lucas Barrios.

Having won 52 caps for Germany and scored 19 goals, Kuranyi walked out on the national side at half-time during the World Cup qualifier against Russia in October 2008 through frustration at having been left out of the match-day squad.

He later apologised to Loew, but the Germany boss has repeatedly said he will never again select Kuranyi.

“I still have a little bit of hope that I will go to the World Cup,” Kuranyi told Die Welt on Sunday, having also been over-looked for selection at the 2006 World Cup.

“I have still not decided what I will do during the World Cup, but if I don’t go it will be hard to have missed out for another four years.”

Bayern Munich’s Miroslav Klose and Mario Gomez, plus Cologne’s Lukas Podolski, are Loew’s first-choice forwards with the World Cup set to start on June 11.

“I am not dwelling on that, I hope my colleagues score goals in the weeks to come, except when they face Schalke, of course,” said Kuranyi.