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Top striker

June 8, 2011

For years, Mario Gomez has been stuck behind Miroslav Klose in the German national team. But his performances in Germany's last two Euro 2012 qualifiers were probably enough to have earned him a promotion.

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Mario Gomez and Thomas Müller celebrate a goal for Germany
Gomez and Thomas Müller (left) may get more time togetherImage: AP

As goals go, Mario Gomez's first strike against Austria last Friday wasn't match to look at. An inadequately dealt-with cross found its way to the forward, who deflected the ball somewhat clumsily into the net with his shin.

But for a player who had often been derided as a reliable killer of even the easiest of opportunities when wearing a national team shirt, it was one to savor. So much so that he planted a kiss on the goalpost.

Gomez had good reason to make out with that particular piece of metal. Three years ago in Vienna, at the 2008 European Championship, Gomez spectacularly failed to score from approximately one meter out against Austria. The video of the striker's blunder quickly became a YouTube favorite.

But now having racked up a brace against the Austrians and also put home the winner in Tuesday's match against Azerbaijan, Gomez finally appears to have buried what the German media have called his "Austrian curse."

Mario Gomez in front of the Austrian goal
Gomez had no luck scoring in Vienna in 2008Image: AP

After the Austria match, with an eye toward Germany coach Joachim Löw, Gomez was careful not to crow too much.

"It's not as if I've completely turned the tide," the striker told reporters. "The goals have to continue. Then the coach will be spoilt for choice. I don't want slide into [the starting line-up] due to an injury."

The 25-year-old Gomez only got the starting nod because 33-year-old Miroslav Klose - the man who was Gomez's back-up this season at Bayern Munich - was out hurt. So why is it that the player at the heart of the most expensive intra-German transfer ever has struggled to supplant a rival who is in the twilight of his career?

A crisis of confidence

In interviews, Gomez can be infuriatingly suave, often answering questions as though he's just emerged from the bedroom with the reporter's girlfriend. But the striker's cockiness can't conceal the fact that he's struggled under the weight of major expectations placed upon him at an early age.

Gomez shot to stardom in the 2006-7 season, when his goals drove upstarts Stuttgart to the Bundesliga title, and he was voted Germany's Footballer of the Year. That earned him a place in the Nationalelf and, two years later, a transfer to Bayern Munich that cost the Bavarians a record 30 million euros ($44 million).

Mario Gomez looking frustrated
Gomez got off to a poor start at Germany's premier clubImage: picture-alliance/Pressefoto ULMER/Claus Cremer

But in his first season in Munich Gomez was unable to deliver on that investment. He eventually found himself on the bench, leapfrogged by hard-working after-thought Ivica Olic as Bayern came within a whisker of winning the triple.

Moreover, despite having long been tipped as Klose's naturally successor for Germany, Löw stubbornly stuck by the Mannschaft's second-best all-time goal-scorer even when he wasn't producing in club football either.

Gomez, for his part, didn't take the opportunities he was given in national dress. He failed to score in either Euro 2008 or the 2010 World Cup.

But Gomez found his range again for Bayern this season, becoming the Bundesliga's top scorer, and he has carried the confidence that engendered into the national team.

The question is: will it be enough to convince Löw?

Changing the guard?

Löw has repeatedly insisted that he has nothing, in principle, against playing Gomez and Klose together, but one suspects that such statements are a diplomatic way of avoiding insult to either player.

Gomez and Klose are both classic center forwards who tend to get in each other's way for both Bayern and Germany. So a hard choice appears to be inevitable, and things may now be breaking Gomez's way.

The first thing Gomez has going for him is that he's now the undisputed top dog in Munich - so much so that Klose declined to extend his contract and is seeking a starting place elsewhere. That could be important in two senses.

Miroslav Klose celebrates
Supplanted by Gomez at Bayern, Klose is taking his celebrations elsewhereImage: AP

The Bavarians are reloading with new talent in an attempt to recapture supremacy in the Bundesliga and make a run at the Champions League, the final of which will be held in Munich in 2012. Gomez should get plenty of chance to display his skills, and no one would be surprised if he repeats as the Bundesliga's top scorer.

It also means he will be working on a day-to-day basis with the Bayern Munich players likely to comprise the core of the Germany's national team at the 2012 European Championship.

What's more, the Azerbaijan game showed that Gomez can link up well with Mesut Özil, who has become the Nationalelf's creative general in midfield. The striker demonstrated good rapport with the playmaker in that game, slipping into space on a breakaway to score what would turn out to be the decisive goal.

Thanks to Gomez's recent productivity, Germany have virtually qualified for Euro 2012, and Joachim Löw can look forward to a relaxed summer. A place in Germany starting eleven could well be Gomez's reward for finally making the boss happy.

Author: Jefferson Chase
Editor: Matt Hermann