Germany travelled to the World Cup hoping to play seven games. Their journey began in Salvador with a dream and ended in Rio with football’s most coveted trophy. DFB.de takes another look back at Die Mannschaft’s magnificent seven and recounts this summer’s stories both on and off the pitch. Today, we remember Klose’s somersault and equalling the World Cup goalscoring record in Germany’s second group match against Ghana.
It was a simple flip, nothing too difficult. There was no overstretching, diving or fancy twisting involved. He did not attempt a backflip or a complex salto of the kind seen at gymnastics events, and yet it still almost went wrong. If the move had been performed in a diving competition or on the high bar, the judges would have been forced to give it a very low score; there would not be many arguments for awarding points for that kind of mistake. Miroslav Klose was not happy with it either. The day after misjudging his somersault, the striker was highly critical of his attempt, branding it "completely wayward" and refusing to use the exceptional circumstances as an excuse. "I have no idea what drove me to do the flip," he admitted. "You could tell that I’m very out of practice these days."
Luckily, it was the only element of his performance that looked rusty, as Klose was not performing his somersault in a diving or gymnastics competition and there were no judges sat on the sidelines to mark him down for landing on his backside. The story of Germany’s match against Ghana did not centre on the quality of Klose’s acrobatics but instead on the seconds leading up to his trademark flip. It took only a few moments for the Lazio striker to make history that night in Fortaleza, even though millions of seconds have passed since this historic chapter opened on 1 June 2002. On that day in Sapporo, Klose scored a header in the 21st minute against Saudi Arabia to give Germany a 1-0 lead and post his first World Cup goal, and 13 more strikes would follow in the ensuing 12 years. This meant that the German’s tally stood at 14 ahead of the match against Ghana, one short of the Brazilian legend Ronaldo’s all-time record.
69 minutes on the sidelines
At first it did not appear as though the 36-year-old would reach the record mark against the African side, as he started on the bench, a place from which even the sharpest of strikers struggle to get on the scoresheet. Klose had to wait 69 minutes before being brought on in place of Mario Götze as national coach Joachim Löw finally made his move and set the wheels in motion for a historic achievement. What followed is best described by the man closest to the action: "I came on and in no time at all we won a corner," Klose recalled. "I thought I needed to go up for the header and stepped forward, but something told me I should hold off and go towards the far post. Luckily I followed my instinct as that’s exactly where the ball ended up."
Klose’s instinct was proven right thanks to the hustling efforts of the world’s best centre-back turned left-back. It was Benedikt Höwedes who helped Toni Kroos’ corner on towards the far post, leaving Klose to shepherd the ball into the back of the net and join Ronaldo in the annals of World Cup history. "You need to have a good nose for where the ball might go," he said. "Everything clicked at that moment. I was certain I had to stay behind the defender, knew where I had to position myself and managed to get the ball safely over the line."
Back to reality
Klose’s goal was not just historically significant, it was also crucial at the time. Germany’s second World Cup match brought the team back to earth with a bump after their rampant 4-0 win over Portugal. That resounding result confirmed Die Mannschaft as the top favourites, leading some to predict that the Ghana game would be little more than a formality for an unstoppable side, but the German players and coaches refused to get carried away with the hysteria. "Our opening match was good and important but now we’ve got to build on that. A win means we can take control of the group," said national coach Joachim Löw. Ahead of his team’s encounter with the Black Stars, he issued a strong warning about both the individual quality within the opposing squad and the determination Kevin-Prince Boateng and his team-mates would show after losing to the USA in their first match. "It’s already a crunch game for Ghana. They’ll fight to the very end. If they don’t win it will be very difficult for them."
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Germany travelled to the World Cup hoping to play seven games. Their journey began in Salvador with a dream and ended in Rio with football’s most coveted trophy. DFB.de takes another look back at Die Mannschaft’s magnificent seven and recounts this summer’s stories both on and off the pitch. Today, we remember Klose’s somersault and equalling the World Cup goalscoring record in Germany’s second group match against Ghana.
It was a simple flip, nothing too difficult. There was no overstretching, diving or fancy twisting involved. He did not attempt a backflip or a complex salto of the kind seen at gymnastics events, and yet it still almost went wrong. If the move had been performed in a diving competition or on the high bar, the judges would have been forced to give it a very low score; there would not be many arguments for awarding points for that kind of mistake. Miroslav Klose was not happy with it either. The day after misjudging his somersault, the striker was highly critical of his attempt, branding it "completely wayward" and refusing to use the exceptional circumstances as an excuse. "I have no idea what drove me to do the flip," he admitted. "You could tell that I’m very out of practice these days."
Luckily, it was the only element of his performance that looked rusty, as Klose was not performing his somersault in a diving or gymnastics competition and there were no judges sat on the sidelines to mark him down for landing on his backside. The story of Germany’s match against Ghana did not centre on the quality of Klose’s acrobatics but instead on the seconds leading up to his trademark flip. It took only a few moments for the Lazio striker to make history that night in Fortaleza, even though millions of seconds have passed since this historic chapter opened on 1 June 2002. On that day in Sapporo, Klose scored a header in the 21st minute against Saudi Arabia to give Germany a 1-0 lead and post his first World Cup goal, and 13 more strikes would follow in the ensuing 12 years. This meant that the German’s tally stood at 14 ahead of the match against Ghana, one short of the Brazilian legend Ronaldo’s all-time record.
69 minutes on the sidelines
At first it did not appear as though the 36-year-old would reach the record mark against the African side, as he started on the bench, a place from which even the sharpest of strikers struggle to get on the scoresheet. Klose had to wait 69 minutes before being brought on in place of Mario Götze as national coach Joachim Löw finally made his move and set the wheels in motion for a historic achievement. What followed is best described by the man closest to the action: "I came on and in no time at all we won a corner," Klose recalled. "I thought I needed to go up for the header and stepped forward, but something told me I should hold off and go towards the far post. Luckily I followed my instinct as that’s exactly where the ball ended up."
Klose’s instinct was proven right thanks to the hustling efforts of the world’s best centre-back turned left-back. It was Benedikt Höwedes who helped Toni Kroos’ corner on towards the far post, leaving Klose to shepherd the ball into the back of the net and join Ronaldo in the annals of World Cup history. "You need to have a good nose for where the ball might go," he said. "Everything clicked at that moment. I was certain I had to stay behind the defender, knew where I had to position myself and managed to get the ball safely over the line."
Back to reality
Klose’s goal was not just historically significant, it was also crucial at the time. Germany’s second World Cup match brought the team back to earth with a bump after their rampant 4-0 win over Portugal. That resounding result confirmed Die Mannschaft as the top favourites, leading some to predict that the Ghana game would be little more than a formality for an unstoppable side, but the German players and coaches refused to get carried away with the hysteria. "Our opening match was good and important but now we’ve got to build on that. A win means we can take control of the group," said national coach Joachim Löw. Ahead of his team’s encounter with the Black Stars, he issued a strong warning about both the individual quality within the opposing squad and the determination Kevin-Prince Boateng and his team-mates would show after losing to the USA in their first match. "It’s already a crunch game for Ghana. They’ll fight to the very end. If they don’t win it will be very difficult for them."
This warning had the desired effect. Die Nationalelf initially performed better than expected against Ghana but lacked the sparkle and with it the efficiency they had shown in the previous match. This was exemplified by Mario Götze’s opening goal in the 51st minute, in which he picked up a cross from Thomas Müller before inadvertently playing a quick one-two pass with himself. The ball bounced from his head onto his left knee and into the net. "It was pretty fortunate that the ball went in," Götze conceded. In any case, Germany’s hopes of a second win in two matches quickly faded when Andre Ayew scored for Ghana just three minutes later, and when Asamoah Gyan scored the African side’s second goal in the 63rd minute it looked as though Löw’s team were heading for their first defeat of the tournament.
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"I was optimistic"
Joachim Löw picked this moment to head towards his only true striker and signal for him to warm up. Klose, for his part, wasted no time in infiltrating the Ghanaian penalty area once he was out on the pitch. We already know what happened next, but what is less clear is what was going through the forward’s head after he scored his 15th World Cup goal. "I know that on my way back to the halfway line I looked to see how long was left," he remembered, "and I was optimistic we would still have one or two chances to score the winner. But there was also still a chance of conceding again in the time remaining."
Despite all these ‘what if’s, the score remained 2-2, and although Germany’s wait for progression to the next round continued, the wait for that record-equalling goal was already over. The record goalscorer himself said of the achievement: "15 goals from 20 matches isn’t bad." Not bad is one way of looking at it, even if it might be better to forget about that front flip.
