the kinds of football in the world: Miroslav Klose

Showing posts with label Miroslav Klose. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

The young German lions' path to the final overcomes another hurdle: Germany 4 Maradona's Argentina 0

Miroslav Klose equalled Gerd Muller's 14 WC goals in the 4-0 win vs Argentina & will be aiming to surpass Ronaldo's all time 15 goals in the next two matches

The young German lions did it again! For the second time ina week they scored 4 goals in a World Cup match. This time they systematically disposed of the over the top antics of Maradona & his surprisingly below par & up to now impressive Argentine side.

And in doing so Miroslav Klose equaled the legendary Gerd Muller's record of 14 World Cup goals for Germany, the last of which was scored in the 1974 final win vs Holland.

In my predictions, I have set up my approach for a potential Holland vs Germany final & I hope Klose will break Ronaldo's all time World Cup record of 15 goals in the next two matches.

Loew's faith in Klose & Podolski has fully paid off. They had scored a miserly 5 goals between the two of them in Bundesliga this year going to the World Cup & Klose had become a bit player in Bayern's run to the final of the Champions League & the German media were putting pressure on Loew to axe Klose & Podolski.

Germany, the ultimate "Tournament Team" as they are known in the world of football, have now enhanced their unbelievable record to 12 World Cup semi final appearances (7 finals) and on this form can surprise any team as long as they stay calm & do not get ahead of themselves.

The only slight blemish in tonight's result was the opening goal scorer, the young Thomas Muller will miss the semi final as a result of receiving his second yellow card. Amazingly, during the prematch friendly in March Maradona refused to attend a press conference with Muller, who was receiving his first cap at that match. Maradona called Muller a ball boy & demanded Muller be kicked out of the press conference or he would leave! (You can see this on Youtube). Muller took 3 minutes tonight to exact his revenge!

Well done to Lowe, his assistants & all German players involved, a fully deserved victory which should put an end to the controversy over Lampard's disallowed goal in the 4-1 win against England, and at the same time put the Socceroos loss to Germany in perspective.

On a final note, as I have mentioned in numerous occasions previously: The English speaking media brainwashes fans into thinking the English Premier League (EPL) players are superior superstars!

Not a SINGLE German player in the 23 man squad plays in the EPL. In fact they all play in the German Bundesliga. It is the German Youth Development system that produces such talented young players, something that the English game is suffering from as a direct result of the foreign influx to the EPL.

I have now predicted the first 3 semi finalists & look forward to seeing Germany avenge their Euro 2008 final loss to Spain in the semi final!

Early signs of trouble for Joachim Löew & Germany in the upcoming World Cup in South Africa

The German national team, or Die Nationalmannschaft are known as the ultimate "Tournament" team. They usually have a slow start in World Cup tournaments & grind their way into the latter stages whilst more talented teams fall by the way side & get eliminated. Germany (including west Germany) have reached the World Cup semi final 11 times, the final 7 times & have of course been winners in 3 occasions. Outside the 1990 win & the 2006 campaign, they have always been slow starters & at times labeled boring and/or lucky. Nevertheless, Germany's performance & record in the world Cup continues to generate intense envy amongst rival fans.

Germany are currently the Under 17, Under 19 & Under 21 European Champions & the crop of young talent coming through the ranks is almost second to none in Europe. However, with less than 100 days till the start of the World Cup, most the young talented players will miss out on Loew's team selection for the World Cup. Only Ozil, Marin & Kroos have any realistic chance of being selected in the final 23 man squad for the World Cup.

The recent friendly 0-1 defeat to Madonna's hapless Argentina in Munich raised many worrying questions about Germany's prospects in South Africa. The shortcomings were clear in all areas. The following is a list:

1. Loew & his team have failed to sign a new contract with the DBF beyond the World Cup. Whilst both the German Federation & Loew have diplomatically agreed to decide to postpone negotiations to after the World Cup in order to avoid destabilisation, the fact that they have not reached an agreement will by itself cause some disharmony.

2. In the goal keeping department, Loew's stubborn insistence to allow Lehmann to be the no 1 keeper in Euro 2008, and the subsequent recent tragic death of Robert Enke has left this always reliable area of the German team well short of international experience.
Both Rene Adler of Leverkusen & Manuel Neuer of Schalke have shown promising signs of being able to emulate the feats of their legendary colleagues of the previous years. Nevertheless, the fact remains that between the two of them they only have 11 caps, and neither plays for a clubside which appears in the Champions League regularly. Therefore, both have limited international exposure.

In Central defence, where problems were evident in 2006 & Euro 2008, a reliable long term partner for Mertesacker is yet to be found. Tasci of Stuttgart & Boeteng of Hamburg as well as Westermann of Schalke are all unproven in international level.

Then there is the issue of where to play Lahm! He played so effectively as a left back in WC 2006. But Lahm has appeared as an attacking right back for Bayern all season & has stated he prefers to play in that position. He's also stated it takes him a few weeks to get used to switching from right to left. Should Loew try why he successfully experimented on with in Euro 2006 again? i.e. Use Podolski as a right midfield player & emulate the successful Lahm/Robben combination at Bayern?

Then there's the question of total loss of form by Ozil! The promising talented midfielder has had a poor run of form & the question now is whether he should be selected at all. On top of that, Ballack's relationship with Loew is still at best cordial. This can't be good for team moral.

Nevertheless, there is an abundance of talent in the likes of Toni Kroos, Thomas Muller, Sammy Khedira & Marco Marin who will help reduce Loew's tactical headaches (but not selection headaches). Nevertheless, they are all untested on the big stage.

Finally, there are major headaches upfront in attack. Kuryani is the in form German striker right now & he's out of favour. Both Podolski & Klose have been out of form & between the two of them scored a miserly 3 goals all season! I believe Cacau & Kiessling are not of World Cup pedigree & Patrick Helmes will take too long to reach his optimal form after a long injury lay off.

And last but least, as a Bayern & Germany fan, I am yet to understand what the big fuss about Mario Gomez is! He was a total flop in Euro 2006 & his international record is by no means impressive. Yet both Loew & Bayern insist on starting him in every game!

To top it all off, Germany are in the toughest group with Ghana, Australia & Serbia ready to Pounce on any mistake they can!

The good news however is that before every World Cup & European Championships, thousands of obituaries like mine are written about Germany, and they still make it to the latter stages & the finals!

As Gary Lineker famously said (paraphrasing) "Football is a game which 22 men run after a ball & try to score, and at the end Germany wins!"

Enjoy the World Cup & good luck to whichever team you support!