Germany coach Joachim Low has admitted he has yet to make up his mind who will lead his attack against Australia next Sunday.
Low has favoured Miroslav Klose in his two pre-tournament warm-up games, however there has been no indication that the Bayern Munich striker, who netted just three goals for his club all season, is nearing a satisfactory level of form.
And Low's support of the man who has led Germany's challenge at the last two World Cups appears to be waning.
"Miro has a lot of catching up to do," he told the Bild newspaper after the national team arrived in Johannesburg this morning.
"He has trained hard, and yet we took a risk on him against Bosnia.
"Miro is a competition player, but he is lacking the match practice. Miro is going to have to fight (for his place)."
Should Low decide to shuffle his pack for their World Cup opener, he has picked out the two candidates he is considering.
Cacau has been the first choice to take Klose's place in the recent matches against Hungary and Bosnia-Herzegovina, and he has left a good impression each time.
But Klose's team mate Mario Gomez is also fighting for a starting berth and Low admitted he has been particularly impressed with the 24-year-old.
"He is in very, very good form," he said. "He is playing better than I have ever seen him play for Bayern Munich."
However, a gamble on Gomez backfired at Euro 2008, when he failed to find the back of the net even once, which is why Cacau currently has the edge.
"Cacau has impressed when he has played," said Low.
That leaves Stefan Kiessling as the fourth candidate in the attack, and the likely odd man out, at least on Sunday, despite being the top German goalscorer in the Bundesliga last season.
Klose does not expect to be dropped, however, and he told Germany's Kicker magazine that he still expects to line up against the Socceroos.
"I am convinced that I will win the battle for my place like in the past," said the 31-year-old, who is not perturbed about his form to date.
"The decisive moment is the first World Cup game against Australia and I am happy to be judged on that.
"Since arriving in the national team's training camp, I have done two training sessions a day and worked really hard.
"That was the case before and after the recent friendlies. Therefore, I did not really take these games as a yardstick. I am still right in the middle of preparation."
Klose has been Germany's top goalscorer in the last two World Cups and he has high aims this time around too.
"Of course you always want to improve," he said. "Therefore, I now want to top the mark of five goals if possible."
source: football365.com
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