Germany vs. Switzerland

Germany coach Joachim Löw was in Frankfurt at the weekend to see the 24-year-old Kuranyi net a brace in the 3-1 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt to help his side stay joint top of the Bundesliga with Werder Bremen.

"Kevin has shown shortly before the winter break and now since the Bundesliga restarted that his form is improving," said Löw.

Kuranyi last played for Germany in November 2005 in the scoreless draw against France in Paris and failed to make his country's World Cup squad. His club form took a dive soon after joining Schalke from Stuttgart in 2005, scoring just 10 goals in 30 appearances for the club. By the end of the World Cup season, Kuranyi's body language spoke of a striker running on empty.

Kuranyi's World Cup nightmare dissipating

But since the beginning of this current season, with his World Cup disappointment behind him, Kuranyi has bagged on average a goal every other game and is looking decidedly more confident.

The competition for places up front for Germany got even hotter with the announcement that Löw was also calling up Stuttgart's in-form striker Mario Gomez for the Switzerland game.

A product of the Stuttgart youth system, Gomez has hit ten goals in 18 games for Stuttgart and has been integral in the southern club's push for the Champions League places, a surge that saw them set an early pace at the top of the league.

Germany coach Löw was watching on Tuesday night when the 22-year-old scored a brace against Arminia Bielefeld, fuelling rumors that a place in the national squad was being considered.

Klose a shoe-in, but Poldi's form raises questions

While first choice striker Miroslav Klose is firing on all cylinders for high-scoring league leaders Werder Bremen, Lukas Podolski , Klose's usual international partner in attack, is fairing less favorably at Bayern Munich.

Podolski has just one goal to his name this season in his sporadic appearances for the champions. While Löw is known to have great faith in Podolski, the striker's current club form may raise some questions in the future which the coach may find hard to ignore. The topic of Podolski's inclusion is a mute point however as he is suspended for the Switzerland friendly.

With Kuranyi and Gomez entering the equation, Löw may be tempted to experiment against the Swiss at some point during the 90 minutes, especially as Borussia Mönchengladbach's veteran striker Oliver Neuville will be missing through injury.

Return of the formerly walking wounded

Löw also said he we has happy to name Borussia Dortmund's Christoph Metzelder and Werder Bremen's Tim Borowski in the squad and said that Borowski was likely to start against the Swiss.

The same goes for teammate Per Mertesacker, who makes his return to the German squad for the first time since last summer's World Cup following his Achilles operation last autumn.

"Per will definitely return," said Löw. "He has been playing permanently for Bremen."

Metzelder returns to the national team after a six-month absence

due to injury. Borussia Mönchengladbach's Marcell Jansen is also back in the squad after injury.

Germany squad:

Goalkeepers

Jens Lehmann (Arsenal), Timo Hildebrand (VfB Stuttgart)

Defenders

Arne Friedrich (Hertha Berlin), Manuel Friedrich (Mainz 05), Clemens Fritz (Werder Bremen), Marcell Jansen (Bor. Moenchengladbach), Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich), Per Mertesacker (Werder Bremen), Christoph Metzelder (Borussia Dortmund)

Midfield

Michael Ballack (Chelsea), Tim Borowski (Werder Bremen), Torsten Frings (Werder Bremen), Thomas Hitzlsperger (VfB Stuttgart), Jan Schlaudraff (Alemannia Aachen), Bernd Schneider (Bayer Leverkusen), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich)

Forwards

Mario Gomez (VfB Stuttgart), Mike Hanke (VfL Wolfsburg), Miroslav Klose (Werder Bremen), Kevin Kuranyi (Schalke 04)