Competition is fierce up front for Germany

Striker Mario Gomez insists there is no room for error in the intense competition for Germany's two forward positions ahead of Saturday's Euro 2008 qualifier against Cyprus.

Alongside Gomez, Germany's player of the year, there are four strikers competing for just two places with World Cup forwards Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski up against outsiders Mike Hanke and Oliver Neuville.

"There is a lot of competition for places in attack, everyone is pushing themselves forward. No one can afford a mistake," said Gomez.

Stars Michael Ballack, Torsten Frings, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Bernd Schneider are missing with injury giving the German management limited options in midfield, but there are tough choices to make up front says assistant coach Hans-Dieter Flick.

Germany have already qualified for Euro 2008, but want strong performances in their last two games against Cyrpus in Hanover and Wales in Frankfurt next Wednesday to finish with a flourish.

"It is important we have a large selection of strikers to choose from, it is something we have been looking to improve on in the last few years," said Flick.

Experienced goal-scorer Kevin Kuranyi has been left out of Loew's squad to give Hanover's Mike Hanke and Borussia Moenchengladbach veteran Oliver Neuville a chance to prove themselves.

"We have the feeling that both give everything in training and we are hoping to give them some game time," Flick added.

With eight Bundesliga goals to his name for league leaders Bayern Munich, Klose, top scorer at last year's World Cup, is Loew's first-choice, but Gomez is hard on his heels with seven league goals for struggling Stuttgart.

Podolski, voted young player of the tournament at last year's World Cup, is also in a rich-vein of form having scored twice in Bayern's 2-2 UEFA Cup draw ten days ago. So for 24-year-old Hanke, who won the first of his 11 caps in 2005, the pressure is on to break into such world-class company.

"The situation is pretty tough, the competition is really fierce," said Hanke who has scored four goals in 13 Bundesliga games for Hanover. "My aim is to get into the Euro 2008 squad, but I will have to work hard just to achieve that."