Bierhoff says Bayern don't run German national team

Berlin: Bayern Munich can?t dictate Germany?s line-up anymore and their goalkeeper Oliver Kahn will have to get used to battling it out with Arsenal?s Jens Lehmann, Germany team manager Oliver Bierhoff said on Sunday.

Rejecting Bayern?s demand that Germany coach Juergen Klinsmann end the Kahn-Lehmann rivalry because their keeper?s performances are suffering, Bierhoff said the Bundesliga?s most successful team of recent years don?t run the national side.

?Bayern put a lot of people under pressure but that doesn?t mean that things are going to go the way they want them to,? Bierhoff told the Welt am Sonntag, referring to the Munich side?s considerable influence over past Germany teams.

?It?s certainly a good thing that the clubs are pulling for their players but we?re not going to let anyone pressure us,? added Bierhoff, who spent much of his career in Italy.

Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge had said on Saturday that Kahn and Lehmann were making errors because of the pressure and urged Klinsmann to change his plan to wait until shortly before the 2006 World Cup finals to pick a number one.

Kahn made a last-minute blunder in Bayern?s 0-1 loss against Juventus in their Champions League match on Wednesday and later blamed the wet ball and grass plus a bad bounce. He has also been jeered by Lehmann fans in recent Bundesliga matches.

?The debate has to be ended,? Rummenigge told Premiere television.

?Juergen Klinsmann wanted a battle between Kahn and Lehmann. We?ve got to make sure that at the end of the day both don?t lose. We?ve got to change something.

But Klinsmann said in an interview with the Cologne Express on Sunday that he wouldn?t make a decision until six months before the World Cup finals begin in June 2006.

?The competition will proceed in a reasonable fashion,? Klinsmann said.

?Some people may need to adjust to the unusual constellation. But we?re not going to change our plan. We will pick a number one six months before the World Cup, not sooner.?

Lehmann, 34, has 20 caps while 35-year-old Kahn has 74. Kahn was the hero of Germany?s run to the 2002 World Cup final but has since made a number of high-profile errors, including one in the 0-2 defeat by Brazil who became world champions again.

Former Germany coach Rudi Voeller gave Kahn special status as captain and number one despite his erratic performances.

Klinsmann, a fan of the English Premier League, stripped Kahn of the captaincy and said Lehmann had an equal shot at the job.

Lehmann, superb in Germany?s 2-0 win over Iran last month, will be in goal against Cameroon in Leipzig on November 17.