So… listen to this… if someone asked you to name the best world cup players of all time, who comes to your mind? Ronaldo? Pelé?
Muller? I don’t know, but one thing I’m almost sure of… no one ever thinks of Miroslav Klose… but still, that did not stop him from becoming the tournament’s all time top scorer, as the Guardian once wrote : “Miroslav Klose is the mere mortal who dared to eclipse the goalscoring gods”. .
. and some people really didn’t like that… As I once read in an internet comment: “His club career is nonexistent. Anyone who would look at him playing, will consider him a below mediocre striker.
. . no speed, no technique, no dribbling, no nothing.
. . If I ask an average football fan to try to recall at least one of Klose's goals, most likely any person will fail to do so, since all of Klose's goals are very generic and forgettable”… look though it is a fact that Klose scored at a much higher rate at the world cup than anywhere else and that not one of his world cup goals came from further out than the penalty spot, there’s still a lot of ways to disprove that statement: the whole thought process behind the claim that “a poacher is a lesser player” is already incredibly flawed but how could you say that about Klose and… how could you say his club career was nonexistent, if he not only won the bundesliga twice, but won every award from player of the year to top scorer… and even top assist provider… you can’t just ignore that side of his game because he was a tad more “unconventional”.
. . I mean, he averaged an assist every 347 minutes over his entire career, that’s the exact same as Cristiano Ronaldo… Even the whole thing of narrowing him down to a “one-competition wonder” is absurd… Klose was always great for Germany anywhere he played… He literally scored more frequently for his country than Ronaldo Fenómeno did for Brazil… And by the time he retired, Puskas was the only European to have scored more international goals than him… even Pelé had scored only 6 more… Still, that didn't stop a lot of people from getting annoyed every time he put the ball in the net… the same old guy scoring the same old goal… In fact, whenever he spoke of himself, as much as you could narrow it down to sheer humility… I feel like you could see that it got to him, he was almost self-deprecating, he’s gone as far as saying things like: “In my opinion whenever you hear my name being mentioned in the same sentence as Ronaldo and Gerd Muller… Nobody even knows who Miroslav Klose is!
”. . .
but why would he say something like this…. Well… It’s not even that Klose wasn’t meant to become a footballer… I don't think he was even really trying to… Despite both of his parents being former athletes, his mom a handball player and his dad, you guessed it, a footballer, Klose never really cared for football until he was pretty much forced to play it… You see, people don’t realize this, but Klose wasn’t German, he was born in Poland, both his parents were polish… He even grew up in France, while his father played at Auxerre… So when he moved to Germany at 8 years of age, he only spoke two words of German… “Ja” and “Danke”… so, as you might imagine, he really struggled to make friends, until the day he started playing football, as he said: “This sport was the only thing that made me feel like I fit in… It was the one place where the other kids didn’t care where I came from… I was the best so I was always the first to be picked”. .
. And from there on out, he never let go of that feeling, but he also never tried to make a career out of it… Only a few months before turning 21, he was still working as a carpenter apprentice while playing part time in the German 7th tier… and even when he got his first transfer, all he did was join the reserves of FC Homburg, who were in the regional league at the time… No one would ever think that Klose would become a top player, let alone that only 4 years later he’d be in the world cup final facing off against Ronaldo Fenómeno… Regardless, against all the odds, before his first season at Homburg had even come to an end, not only had he been promoted to the first team, but a Kaiserslautern scout just happened to stop by one of their matches… I can’t stress this enough, he wasn’t even really supposed to be there… there was no plan to sign anyone… Back then, Kaiserslautern were one of the best teams in the country… but he must have seen something because that day he approached Klose and signed him on the spot… Obviously, once there, it was absurdly hard to get any attention from the coaches and they immediately sent him to the B team… but again, before his debut season had even come to an end, somehow he had already convinced manager Otto Rehhagel not only to promote him to the first team, but to play him in the Bundesliga… quick reminder: only a year and a half before he couldn’t even make the cut in the third tier… Still, no matter what, by his second season, he was already getting consistent playing time in the UEFA Cup and of course he made the most of it, somehow getting his team to the semi finals, totalling 7 goal contributions, far more than any other player in the squad, making him an absolute fan favorite… In fact, midway through the season, he had already caused enough of a stir that the Polish national team manager showed up at his doorstep asking him to join them and still, he never buckled, telling the press that “I have a German passport and I believed sooner or later, Rudi Voller will be calling me”. .
. and indeed, two months later, he was already scoring on his debut for the national team… And after only a couple appearances, with the world cup getting closer and closer… he put his foot on the gas like never before… 20 goal contributions in the final 20 league matches of the season, as well as a hat trick for Germany in the last friendly match before the tournament… and once the World Cup started, Rudi Voller had no doubts, even with the likes of Bierhoff and Jancker in the team, after the disappointment that were the Euros, Klose would be the one starting up front… and that choice paid off massively… In his first ever world cup match, Klose opened up his tally with a hat trick, helping his team secure the largest win in a world cup since 1974… In the second match he scored their only goal and to close out the group stage, he assisted their opener against Eto’o’s Cameroon and then scored the other… Even if from there on out, Klose calmed down and went scoreless for the rest of the tournament, Germany still made it all the way to the final, where unfortunately they had to settle for the silver medal while Klose had to settle for the Silver boot, as Ronaldo made sure to take away both those prizes. .
. However, if most would guess that after such an unexpected rise to the top, Klose would feel content with what he had achieved… they were wrong, instead that final defeat created in him an insatiable hunger… He made it his life’s work to make Germany World Champions… but shortly, it all went wrong… Things at Kaiserslautern were tough… There’s a reason they no longer are “one of the best teams in the country” and it all started right there… Only two months after the world cup, they were in such financial trouble that they were forced to sell Klose’s transfer rights to a betting company… and over the next two years, as Klose desperately tried to keep them afloat, they kept sinking down the table, at times even getting point deductions over their money problems and by 2004, with a knee injury making it all that much harder on him and having lost his place in the national team’s starting eleven… Once title holders Werder Bremen came trying to sign Klose as their new star striker, that settled it for him… It was time to get on the move and make sure that, at the next world cup, his place in the starting eleven would be undisputable once more… And though his first season at Bremen would have likely been enough, with 25 goal contributions in 32 league matches, his second season blew all of that out of the water… I’m talking 48 goal contributions across all competitions… In the league, he was averaging one every 56 minutes, that’s about the same as Lewandowski in 2021… and that’s widely considered the best performance by a striker in the history of the Bundesliga… Klose was so good that he managed to top the goal scoring charts and finish only one assist off of topping those charts as well… Once it was all done, obviously he was named player of the year and his place as Germany’s number one striker was reinstated just as their very own world cup was about to start… And again… he didn’t wait around too long… 17 minutes in, he had already scored… then another in the second half… then 2 vs Ecuador to close off the group stage… and once they met Sweden for the round of 16, Podolski scored 4 minutes in off of his rebound and 8 minutes off of his assist… but his most important moment of the tournament would come in the next game as, with Germany losing to Argentina with 12 minutes left on the clock, his predatory instincts kicked in and he delivered the blow that allowed Germany to take the win on penalties… Reaching the semi finals, only for Fabio Grosso to send them to the third place play offs with a dagger in the final minute of extra time… And again, the bronze medal just did not do it for Klose… and even his golden boot, something 99% of players could only ever dream of, felt almost bittersweet, because as much as his 5 goals sent him to 7th place in the tournament’s all time top scorers table… Ronaldo had just scored 3 more to extend the record to 15… But as always, Klose kept going… The next year, he started it all off by winning his first ever trophy, the Ligapokal, then he once again shined in the UEFA Cup, scoring twice and assisting a third against AZ Alkmaar to take Bremen to the semi finals… but above all, he did something that went completely against the perception the fans now seem to have of him… finally topping the league’s assist providing charts and doing it in style, with 16 in total, the most by a single player since 1993… leading Bayern Munich to come for his signing… It’s easy to dismiss this transfer as nothing more than a trophyless player looking for a quick route to glory, especially since the whole transfer saga got ugly enough that it damaged Klose’s legacy at Bremen… but really, that season Bayern weren’t so glorious… in fact, they had settled for their worst placement in over a decade, 6 points behind Klose’s very own Bremen, not even getting a place in the Champions League… Back then, Bayern needed Klose maybe more than he needed them… As their own general manager would say, after pairing him alongside his new signings: a young Ribery and a not so young Luca Toni: “Klose is the cherry on the cake, the one that completes our dream frontline”. .
. and so, again… he delivered… Even if he’d end up slowing down in the league, after an incredible start with 13 goal contributions in the first 8 matches… Across every other competition, he would be tremendous, playing a big role in their UEFA Cup semi final run and being one of the biggest reasons they were able to take the league and cup double, the first major honors of his career, scoring or assisting in every single round all the way to the final… Eventually finishing his debut season at the club with 33 goal contributions despite going through a hip injury and even breaking his nose towards the end of the year… Regardless, that did not stop him from making it to the Euros where Germany were looking to end what was slowly becoming a legacy of failure at Europe’s most prestigious competition… and Klose made sure to be the one to take the initiative, assisting both goals in their opening match and then coming in clutch in the knockout stages, scoring in both matches as Germany narrowly defeat Portugal and Turkey to force their way to the final… only for Klose to once again have to settle for the silver medal… At this point, I’m sure you’ve noticed the trend… It is no wonder that Klose became so obsessed with securing a gold medal before he hung up his boots… especially given that, since he was a late bloomer, he was already 31 at this point… he knew his age would catch up to him… and I think you can pinpoint precisely the day it all started collapsing… Less than two months after the final against Spain, on August 15 2008 in a match vs Hamburg, Klose was subbed off with 10 minutes to go, so a 19 year old could get his debut for Bayern… That kid was Thomas Muller… to the eyes of many, a better, more refined version of Klose… and though individually, Klose would still experience a positive season contributing to 30 goals in total and scoring against every team he faced in the Champions League… Before the year was over, Klose ruptured a ligament in his ankle and in his absence, Bayern lost three decisive matches, allowing Wolfsburg to take the league title at the last minute and being knocked out of the Champions League… In the dawn of this disappointment, more measures towards rebuilding the team were enforced… Van Gaal was hired as the new manager, Robben and Mario Gomez arrived and Muller took on a major role in the team… while Klose and Luca Toni’s playing time was greatly reduced… and if there was any hope the staff would rethink this decision, it all fell apart when Klose’s form took a massive hit, settling for only 6 goals all season, while the new kids on the block led Bayern to a domestic double and a Champions League final… as they say, the future had arrived… Thankfully, even then, Klose’s national team superpowers did not budge, even he himself seemed puzzled as to why he could not stop scoring whenever he put on the white jersey: as he said it himself: “Why do I score for Germany and not Bayern? I ask myself that same question every time… maybe I’m just lucky".
. . Regardless, lucky or not, once the World cup arrived, Joachim Lowe did not doubt him one bit, claiming he had a good feeling about Klose, while the man himself did not shy away from the spotlight, announcing before the tournament that he “planned to score at least 5 goals”.
. . which would make him the competitions all time top scorer… but if things started well, with Klose, again, scoring his first only 26 minutes into the tournament… Early into the second match he got a red card, being sent off and banned for the next match, losing two great opportunities to add to his tally, but again, that wasn’t a problem for Klose, he just popped back into the squad against England and scored the opener, taking them to the quarters, where he would put two past Messi’s Argentina, meaning he was now only 1 goal away from the record… but then, it just didn’t happen… First, Spain beat them again and then, Klose was benched for the 3rd place play off, sitting on the sidelines, as Muller scored his 5th goal to go one above Klose and take the golden boot… Even if Klose was never one to complain, in his first interview following the tournament, you again could tell from his words that he felt he had been wronged, saying: “I sense a touch of regret… I don’t think I’ll ever play at the World Cup again”.
. . By benching him in that last match, you almost felt like Lowe had stopped him from fulfilling his legacy… but looking back now, it was the best thing that happened… with 4 medals in his pocket but no glimmer of gold, had Klose not been looking for that record, maybe that would indeed have been his last world cup… but that sense of betrayal led him to push himself further… one final time… If you think before there was an imbalance in his performances for club and country, then afterwards it was something else, through bruised ribs and torn muscles, even if the next year, Klose performed so poorly that Bayern ended up releasing him… For the national team, he literally scored in every single game… 9 goals in 6 matches… Over the next 3 years, he did everything he could to hold on to his youth, building himself a whole new legacy in Italy and fighting to keep his place in the national team with tooth and nail… and even after a weaker season in 2014, with 5 injuries and a surgery, Joachim Low did right by him and called him up to the 4th world cup of his career, being the oldest striker at the tournament, alongside Drgba, with 36 years of age… And though, Joachim Low would rest him for the first match… Once they were behind against Ghana, with 20 minutes left on the clock… The manager would sub him on and as it had been with every other time he stepped foot in that tournament… After 76 seconds of play, Klose had tied the match and tied the all time goal scoring record… What else were they expecting?
Two weeks later, with Germany again one step away from the final, Klose was given his second start of the tournament against favorites Brazil… and 23 minutes in, he was scoring to put Germany in front 2 nil, Ronaldo himself watched from the stands as his record evaporated at the hands of a player the world had deemed unworthy… but to be fair, that would not be the worst thing he’d witness that day… And even if, in the final, Klose would not be able to make the difference. . .
once he was subbed off for Mario Gotze… Well… as he himself told it: “I told him I was sure he was going to decide the match… That’s what I told him in the dressing room, what I told when he came in… I just knew it”. . .
