Miroslav so Klose to World Cup record

Germany’s Miroslav Klose appears to be loving life. Having just celebrated his 36th birthday in Brazil with his teammates, there may soon be cause for another jubilation soon enough.

On 14 goals, he is just one behind Ronaldo as the leading scorer in the history of the World Cup, not a bad feat for a player with the world at his feet.

Being the only striker selected in your World Cup squad would usually fill a player with optimism, however under Joachim Low, Germany have evolved into a team with an emphasis on playing with a ‘false nine’, and an abundance of midfielders.

His record at World Cups speaks for itself. Breaking onto the scene in 2002, he broke his first record. Klose became the first ever player to score five headed goals at the prestigious tournament. Another quintet of strikes four years later earned him the Golden Boot in his own country, as Germany hosted the 2006 World Cup.

Ever consistent, at the age of 32 in South Africa, he upped his tally to 14, with another four strikes, this time competing with Thomas Muller (tournament top scorer), Lukas Podolski, and Mario Gomez for a starting place.

Klose is 40/1 to be the top scorer in Brazil, and if selected by Low, he has shown he certainly still has the golden touch. Surrounded by a wealth of talented, creative players in Mesut Ozil, Mario Gotze, and Lukas Podolski, he is the perfect target to aim for, and his close ball control, and ability to hold up play compliments his lethal quality of finishing.

Polish-born Klose became Germany’s highest ever scorer in the recent 6-1 friendly win against Armenia, by-passing Gerd Muller’s 68-goals by one.

Low has faced criticism from certain corners and Klaus Allofs, who won a European title as a striker with Germany in 1980, said on the decision to only take Klose: “Low is obviously counting on other offensive powers. I never thought he would do this.

“He must be convinced of the way he is solving this problem. So let him handle it. But if we fail to score, you know what pundits will focus on.’’

Klose has a minimum three games to notch two strikes, it only takes a second to score a goal in football, and the player used to turn his light off as a kid by aiming his ball at the switch.