JAKARTA - The style of play Miroslav Klose, a man born in June 1978, did not meet the characteristics of players in his time, such as Ronaldo Luiz Nazario de Lima or Thierry Henry who has the characteristics of dribbling and skill to score the perfect ball.
However, as an attacker, he has a sharp instincts to score goals. His movement in the penalty area often kills the opponent's defense steps. Klose is the all-time leading goalscorer for the German national team with 71 goals from 137 caps.
His name is also still displayed as the most fertile striker throughout the World Cup. Not a single player has managed to score 16 goals in the quadrennial event.
West German striker Uwe Seeler and Brazilian striker Pele were indeed able to score in four World Cup events. Klose also managed to match their record even with more goals.
At the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan, Klose scored 5 goals, then 5 more goals in 2006 in Germany, 4 goals in 2010 in South Africa, and 2 goals when Germany won the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Klose broke the record for Brazilian legend Ronaldo when he scored his 16th goal as Germany beat Brazil 7-1 in the 2014 semifinals. His gain was even more perfect because at that event, Germany was able to win after defeating Argentina.
"The success of the team is everything. I have achieved a big target (World Cup), a target that we feel together as a team. But, I can also achieve personal targets," said Klose as quoted by BBC.
"I am happy and proud to be able to contribute to the great success of German football. There is no better moment to close travel in the national team," Klose continued.
Only one month later, Klose, who was 36 years old, decided to withdraw from the German national team.
Former German coach Joachim Loew praised him, "He has given everything and Germany deserves to thank him. He will be remembered both as a player or a man."
Is Klose's record able to be broken in Qatar's 2022 World Cup? Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, although he has always been productive in scoring league titles in recent years, both have always been blunt in the World Cup.
During his four World Cup, Messi only scored 6 goals, while Ronaldo had 7 goals. It took another 10 goals to match or break the CLose record. Meanwhile, this may be their last chance to join the World Cup.
Looking at history, only a few players were able to score more than 9 goals in one World Cup, Gerd Muller (West Germany) with 10 goals in the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, Sandor Kocsis (Hungary) 11 goals in the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland, and Just Fontaine (France) 13 goals in the 1958 World Cup in Sweden.
In the 1990s to 2000s, the average player scored only 6 goals in one World Cup event.
Instead, the biggest opportunity is Thomas Mueller. Launching The Analyst, the 33-year-old German has scored 10 goals in the World Cup. Equipped the goals collection of Grzegorz Lato (Poland), Teofilo Cubillas (Peru), Gabriel Batistuta (Argentina), Gary Lineker (England), and Helmut Rahn (Germany).
He made the goal in just two World Cup events, in 2010 and 2014 with 5 goals each. Unfortunately, in 2018, this Bayern Munich player did not score and Germany was eliminated in the group stage.
Even though he is not young anymore, Mueller is still the mainstay player for the German national team coach, Hansi Flick for Qatar's 2022 World Cup. His experience can be a good motivation for other players.
Germany hopes to make up for their surprise defeat in the first round of the 2018 World Cup. Germany's first match will face Japan on November 23, 2022. After that, Der Panzer will face Spain four days later. They finished their group game on December 1 against Costa Rica.
Qatar's 2022 World Cup is just counting days. The inaugural match will be held on November 20 at 23.00 WIB between Qatar vs Ecuador hosts at Al Bayt Stadium. Will there be many surprises in this World Cup?
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