Miroslav Klose Video Showcase

Miroslav Klose (born Miroslaw Marian Kloze on June 9, 1978) is a German footballer who plays as a striker. He currently plays for FC Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga in Germany, and for the German National Football Team.

He is known for his goalscoring instincts, aerial ability, and unselfish play. Klose was the top scorer and thus the Golden Boot winner at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, with a tournament-high five goals. Klose also scored five 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 the World Cup's top scorer, and the only player to have scored 5 or more goals in consecutive World Cups.

Klose was born in Opole, Poland, and hails from a sporting family; his mother, Barbara Jez, was a member of the Poland national handball team (appearing in 82 international matches), and his father, Jozef Kloze, played professional football in Poland and France, and he also represented the Poland National Football Team on several occasions.

In 1981, the Klose family escaped Soviet controlled communist Poland, by moving first to France, then in 1987, to Kusel, Germany. Klose's father is from an ethnic German family and thus could resettle as an Aussiedler.

Klose learned his football at a village club, Blaubach-Diedelkopf, in the German seventh division. Klose had also successfully completed an apprenticeship to become a carpenter and had worked in this profession until joining the professional team of Kaiserslautern.

Klose made it professional much later than soccer players in the age bracket, may say it was due to his inferior ability. He has in the past had many comparisons with various world class strikers such as Owen and Van Nistelrooy. When asked about the comparisons Klose expressed his flattery to be compared to the likes of Van Nistelrooy, "It's an honour to be compared to Ruud, he's played in Europe for so long and has a great goal scoring record, I hope one day I can be good as him." This interview was conducted in June 2007 with Der Spiegel prior his move to Bayern Munich...

Source: Wikipedia - Miroslav Klose

Photo author: onlyee from flickr.com