NUREMBERG, Germany, June 2 (Reuters) - Germany captain Oliver Bierhoff is hoping history repeats itself when he meets old acquaintances in a Euro 2000 warm-up against the Czech Republic on Saturday.

The AC Milan striker, who hit both goals when the Germans beat the Czechs 2-1 in the Euro 96 final at Wembley, has not scored for his country in 610 minutes and is in great danger of losing his place.

'I need a goal, no matter what it looks like,' he said, looking forward to recapturing his scoring habit in Germany's last significant test before Euro 2000 starts on June 10.

Pride is at stake for Bierhoff after a poll released on Thursday on German sports website Sport1.de showed German fans regarded him as the weakest of the five strikers in the Germany squad.

The last time Germany faced the Czech Republic marked the end of an era for the European champions, who have rarely looked a world-class side since.

But there has been a more optimistic mood in their training camp in Mallorca this week.

Not only did they end a worrying series of uninspired performances with a 4-0 demolition of Real Mallorca on Tuesday but the internal squabbling also stopped at last and everybody appeared to be in a positive frame of mind for a change.

'The players have got clear heads again,' said head coach Erich Ribbeck, who has been under pressure to quit but will stay on at least until the end of Euro 2000.

Bayern Munich midfielder Mehmet Scholl confirmed the gloom which had surrounded the German team was lifting.

'I'm much more optimistic for the European championship than I was before the training camp,' he said. 'The atmosphere is even nearly better than before Euro 96. We had our doubts then, too.'