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Miroslav Klose

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Miroslav Klose
File:Klose2006.jpg
Personal information
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s) Striker
Team information
Current team Werder Bremen
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 6 September2006

Miroslav “Miro” Klose (born Mirosław Kloze, June 9, 1978 in Opole, Silesia, Poland) is a German footballer who plays as a striker. He currently plays for Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga, as well as the German national football team.

He was the top scorer and thus the Golden Boot winner of the 2006 World Cup hosted by his native Germany, with 5 goals. Klose also scored 5 goals in his debut World Cup, the 2002 World Cup hosted jointly by the Korea Republic and Japan, giving him a total of 10 goals in World Cup finals. He is the first player representing unified Germany to finish as a World Cup finals top scorer, and the only player to have scored 5 or more goals in consecutive World Cup finals.

Player Profile

Miroslav hails from a sporting family; Miroslav Klose's mother, Barbara Jeż, was a member of the Polish national handball team (appearing in 82 international matches), and his father, Józef Kloze, was a footballer, reaching the Polish national soccer team . In 1981, the Klozes escaped People's Republic of Poland, moving first to France, then, in 1987, to Kusel in Germany. Shortly after settling in Germany, the Klozes changed their surname to Klose, the surname of his German grandfather, Erwin Klose, born in 1910. With his wife Sylwia, also from Poland, he has twins- Luan and Noah (2005).

Klose learned his football at a village club, Blaubach-Diedelkopf, in the German seventh division. After a season at FC Homburg, he eventually joined the amateur division of FC Kaiserslautern. He used to watch the pros from the stands.

A year after joining the club he made it into the first team. In his first 64 matches, Klose scored 31 goals. His consistency as a goal-scorer earned him his first international cap and he made his debut against Albania on March 24, 2001. Germany won the match 2-1, with Klose scoring Germany's second goal.

In the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea-Japan, he scored five goals for the German national team, finishing as one of the highest scorers of the tournament. This tally included a hat trick in Germany's 8-0 win over Saudi Arabia.

The 2002-2003 season was a comparatively disappointing one as Klose found the back of the net a mere 7 times.

He transferred to Werder Bremen in 2004 for a sum of €5 million. After a lacklustre start, Klose formed an impressive attacking triangle with French midfielder Johan Micoud and Croatian forward Ivan Klasnić (as well as, less frequently, Paraguayan forward Nelson Valdez), scoring 15 goals in the Bundesliga.

Despite his relatively slender frame, Klose is one of the best headers of the ball in the Bundesliga. Moreover, he combines a natural killer instinct inside the box with excellent technical ability, and is equally lethal with the ball at his feet. By 2005, the introverted Klose had established himself as one of Germany's top forwards, if not the best. In the 2005/06 season he scored 25 goals and registered 16 assists in just 26 games in the Bundesliga.

Klose was named to his second successive World Cup team for Germany 2006. In the opening match against Costa Rica, coinciding with his 28th birthday, Klose scored two goals for Germany, in the 17th and 61st minutes. This led to Germany's 4-2 win over Costa Rica. He scored another two goals against Ecuador on June 20, putting him on top of the tournament top scorer list with four goals. Klose also played a major part in Germany's 2-0 win over Sweden in the first knockout round, demonstrating his ability to provide assists as he set up strike partner Lukas Podolski for both goals.

Klose scored the equaliser against Argentina in the quarterfinal game played on June 30, 2006, with Germany going on to win 4-2 on penalties. Klose is the first German since Gerd Müller in 1970 to become the top scorer at a World Cup finals, and the first World Cup finals top scorer from unified Germany (Müller represented the former West Germany). Klose has scored 10 goals in World Cup finals, and is 6 goals away from overtaking Brazilian forward Ronaldo as the all-time highest scorer in World Cup finals.

The Spanish sports newspaper AS reported on 11 July 2006 that Klose is a target of Spanish club Real Madrid following his performance at the World Cup. His club Werder Bremen have responded by declaring that Klose will not be sold for less than 20 million British pounds. Klose has also been the target of English Club Newcastle United F.C..

On 6 September 2006 Klose scored 2 away goals against San Marino in a 13-0 win for Germany which took his international goal tally to 33, the same amount as his idol Fritz Walter and to joint 7th in the list of all-time goalscorers for Germany.


Trivia

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  • In January 2001 the national coach Jerzy Engel of Poland travelled to the Pfalz, to persuade him to play for the Polish national team, since Klose still has the Polish nationality. But he declined: "I have a German passport, and if things are still running this way, I have a chance to play for Rudi Völler."
  • Klose's trademark goal celebration is a front-flip which he did five times during the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
  • He was the highest scorer in the Bundesliga season 2005/06 with 25 goals.
  • His five 2002 World Cup goals were all headers; only the fifth of his five goals in the 2006 matches was one. Three of the first four were scored with his favoured right foot.
  • He is the only player to score at least 5 goals in consecutive World Cups (2002 and 2006).

Honours

Career stats

All-Time Club Performance
Club Season Domestic League Domestic Cup European Competition Total
App Goals App Goals App  Goals App Goals
Werder Bremen 06-07
05-06 26 25 3 2 7 3 36 30
04-05 32 15 4 0 8 2
Total 58 40 7 2 15 5 80 47
FC Kaiserslautern 03-04 26 10 1 1
02-03 32 9 4 4
01-02 31 16 3 0
00-01 29 9 2 0
99-00 2 0
Total 120 44 10 5 130 49
Career Totals 178 84 17 7 15 5 210 96

References

  1. http://www.miroslav-klose.de/lebenslauf.html

External links

Preceded byRonaldo FIFA World Cup Golden Shoe
2006 		Succeeded byincumbent
Germany squad – 2002 FIFA World Cup runners-up
Germany
Germany squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup third place
Germany
SV Werder Bremen – current squad
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