Socceroos striker Josh Kennedy is chomping at the bit to get back on to the playing arena.

The marksman has been left out of the line-up for German club Karlsruhe in recent times and is desperate to show people he still has that killer instinct when Australia takes on Uzbekistan in a World Cup qualifier next week.

"I feel better than ever, to be honest, even though I haven't played in a long time," Kennedy said.

"I don't have the knocks and bruises I normally have. My body feels pretty good. I had a chat to Pim on the phone a week or two ago … He knows what the go is, he knows what I can do. There's no surprises there. If I have a good week of training, we'll see how it goes.

"I'd like to think I've cemented my place in the team quite well," he added.

"Every chance I've got, I've done quite well, I've scored goals. The games I haven't played, he's [Verbeek] played different tactics, or there's been other reasons. It's not performance. I'm definitely on the right track to be there if we make South Africa."