Poland should fear two of their own

“I’ve never seen him looking so fit, so agile and so strong,” Loew told a news conference on Thursday, three days before his team’s Group B opener in Klagenfurt.

The 29-year-old, who top scored at the 2006 World Cup with five goals, showed signs of a return to form by scoring in Germany’s recent 2-2 draw with Belarus and he found the net twice in a low-key practice match on Wednesday.

“The way he moved yesterday, you could see him back to his old dynamic self,” Loew said.

“You just had to look at the runs he was making into space. Physically he’s at his best.”

Klose, who turns 30 the day after the Poland match, is Germany’s senior striker, with a record of 39 goals in 75 games. He was born in Opole, Poland but as a young boy moved with his family first to France and finally, at the age of eight, to Germany. It remains to be seen who will play alongside him up front, with Lukas Podolski, another Polish-born player, and Mario Gomez the two main candidates.

Germany will go on to play Croatia and co-hosts Austria in their remaining group matches.