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

Oliver Bierhoff on opening the door for the in-form striker

"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 Low decides, for good sporting reasons, that Kevin Kuranyi can help the side, he will make that decision away from outside influences."

Low 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.

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

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