Striker career comes to Klose

Miroslav Klose
Miroslav Klose (photo: i21st.cn)
By November 10th, 2016

One of the world’s greatest strikers has hung up his boots for good. German soccer star Miroslav Klose announced his retirement on Nov 1, having netted a record 71 goals in 137 games for his country.

Sixteen of those came in World Cups, making him the tournament’s all-time leading scorer. Klose, 38, played in four World Cups and helped his side win in the most recent one, two years ago in Brazil.

Germany has always been regarded as one of the best teams of the modern era, and Klose was a big reason for its success. Amazingly, Germany never lost a game in which Klose scored.

Klose’s national coach, Joachim Loew, described him as a “world star” and “one of the greatest strikers in football”. The pair will continue to work together though, with Klose moving into an assistant coaching role with the national side.

“I am very delighted that [Klose] belongs now to our team,” Loew said in a statement. “He is a role model as a human being and an athlete, who gives everything to the team and success. I am convinced that players can benefit from his presence and participation.”

Klose, who was playing for Italian club Lazio, had been linked to rumors over the past few months of a move either to the United States or to former German club Kaiserslautern. The German soccer star chose to retire from the game and enter the world of coaching, however.

“I enjoyed my biggest successes with the national team. It was a great time and unforgettable for me. That’s why I am happy to return to the DEB (German team),” Klose told the national team’s website.

“Over the past few months, the idea of staying on the pitch in another position, as a coach, got into my mind. I already enjoyed developing tactics, preparing for games and reading the game during my playing days.”

Born in Poland, Klose has a strong sporting pedigree. His parents were both pros in the sporting world, with his father playing soccer professionally in Poland and later France, while his mother was on Poland’s women’s national handball team. After moving to Germany with his family at a young age, it was in a small town that he first fell in love with soccer.

Klose started his professional career with Homburg, before moving on to wear the jerseys of Kaiserslautern, Werder Bremen, Bayern Munich and Lazio.

He scored five goals in each of the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, four times at the 2010 tournament and twice in his final outing two years ago. In the 2014 World Cup, he also contributed to Germany;s 7-1 annihilation of Brazil to become the tournament’s all-time leading scorer, creating a record that is unlikely to break for some time.

Source: i21st.cn

related articles
LATEST FROM LIFE