Commentary - Where Have All The German Gunners Gone?

Ozren Podnar reports

"Bomber" Muller and "Panzer" Rummenigge have been succeeded by Poles, Croats, Hungarians and Africans. And it does not work for Germany

The Germans are starting to get accustomed to the fact that they are no longer a footballing superpower. Yes, they are current World Cup runners-up, but that reflects their true status as much as Greece's recent exploits mean that it is now Europe's leading soccer nation.

At three of their last four big events, Germany has met with failure. In the 1998 World Cup in France, the "Elf" lost to Croatia 0-3 in the quarterfinals; at Euro 2000 in Belgium and Holland, they were eliminated in the first round with one point out of nine; in Korea and Japan they miraculously reached the finals, becoming arguably the weakest runners-up in the history of the competition; finally, in Portugal they returned to reality, again going down in the first phase. It turns out that Oliver Kahn is no longer a wizard capable of stopping the most difficult shots, and that Michael Ballack cannot fill all the holes in the field and also score.

Something must be very wrong with the German youth system, especially concerning the production of forwards. The German decline started after the win at Euro 1996 when their strike force reached the veteran stage without having proper successors. The country once proud of mighty goal scorers seems to have run out of offensive talent, and the terrifying Teutonic gunners have been superseded by children of immigrants or by naturalized newcomers from other countries.

The Brazilian-born Hungarian Kevin Kuranyi, the Poles Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski, the Croat Thomas Brdaric and the Slovenian-Croat Fredi Bobic lead the German attack which scored, er, zero goals in Portugal. Their unproductivity is not a surprise, since they are no more than decent players of mid-table teams. The only exception is Kuranyi, coming from the fourth placed Stuttgart. The result is that the only two goals by Rudi Voller's side were Fring's bizarre free kick and Ballack's fine volley from the edge of the area.

Nostalgia for Muller's glory days

Unlike the present boys, the German aces between the fifties and mid-nineties used to shatter their opponents' morale with their very names or indeed nicknames. Helmuth Rahn, called "The Boss", was a penalty area destroyer, and his tremendous shots tore nets and knocked down defenders at the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland when West Germany were champions, and four years later in Sweden, where they came fourth. His follow-up Uwe Seeler wreaked havoc at four consecutive World Cups until 1970.

Then came the most feared striker of all time, Gerd Muller called "Der Bomber", the top scorer in the Bundesliga's history (365 goals), in the German squad (68), in the World Cup (14) and in the European club cups (67). It was he, in his youth nicknamed "the Fat One", who scored the winning goals both in the Euro 1972 finals against the Soviet Union and in the 1974 World Cup finals against Holland.

He was succeeded by another Muller, Dieter, whose hat trick helped the West Germans come back from two goals down in the Euro 1976 semifinals. The number nine shirt was then donned by the gigantic Horst Hrubesch, formerly a thatcher, whose physical power scattered defenders around, and whose headers packed more power than some players' volleys do.

While the frowning Hrubesch operated around the box, the swift-footed Karl-Heinz Rummenigge aka"the Tank" dug furrows down the flanks, launching long range missiles towards the miserable keepers. The cunning and agile Rudi Voller and the acrobatic, flamboyant Jurgen Klinsmann kept the defences guessing during the eighties and a good part of the nineties. Even their reserve, Karl-Heinz Riedle, was formidable, specially in the air.

The last great German centerforward was the handsome Oliver Bierhoff, whose golden goal against the Czechs gave now united Germany the last trophy at Wembley in 1996. And did we mention Uli Hoeness, Dieter Hoeness, Jupp Heynckes, Klaus Toppmoller, Uwe Rahn and a half-dozen other awe-inspiring goalgetters of the previous decades.

Already at the French World Cup signs of the drought were unequivocable. The good veterans Klinsmann (aged 34), Kirsten (33), Marschal (32) and Bierhoff (30) neared their twilight. The best that the German soccer quarry went on to produce was the robust, but somewhat ungraceful Carsten Jancker! And even he is not an international any more.

German strikers: an extinct species?

As German offensive players started becoming collectors items, their places were taken by players of foreign blood. As early as 1994 Berti Vogts called up the Slovenian-born Slav Fredi Bobic, who played an important role at Euro 1996, but suffered a severe bout of anonimity following his transfer to Borussia Dortmund. Only after four years of absence was he called up again by Voller, but his best days now seem to be over.

Vogts tried the South African Sean Dundee in 1997, but he lasted only three games in the "Elf". The Brazilian Paulo Roberto Rink was a bit more durable, collecting 13 caps for his new "Vaterland" in two years from September of 1998.

In absence of a better domestic winger, the Fussballbund in 1998 resorted to the speedy French Swiss, Oliver Neuville, who turned out to be a hit in the Mannschaft, appearing 48 times in the past six years. In 2001 Voller caused a big sensation by bringing on Gerald Asamoah from Ghana, the first black African player in the German squad. Asamoah, capped 18 times, was no mean forward, but in the era of Muller, Rummennigge or Klinsmann he would have been lucky to be a third reserve.

Much better was Miroslav Klose, a true Pole from the town of Opole, who was launched in the last World Cup by a great season in Kaiserslautern. In Korea and Japan he netted five times, always with his head, and ended up among the top scorers. Even though he scored most of them against a feeble Saudi Arabia side in an 8-0 thrashing, Klose has with 16 goals in 40 games been among the worthiest successors of his Teutonic predecessors.

Last year's revelation was Kevin Kuranyi, born in Brazil to an Hungarian father and a mother from Panama, but of Swedish stock. Recently a big name in Germany has become that of Lukas Podolski, another Pole from Glewicz. However, the very promising 19-year old is unlucky to play in 1. FC Koln from Cologne, once again relegated to the Second Bundesliga. Somehow the Portugal expedition included even the German-born Croat Thomas Brdaric, who after several years as a reserve at Bayer Leverkusen became a star at modest Hannover.

Ironically, the top German scorer last season was the extraordinary Martin Max, ex-Schalke, now at Munich 1860, but he will be 36 next month. The Bundesliga top-20 includes only one true German in Bernd Schneider with 13 goals. Some mention Dortmund's Jan Koller, scorer of 16 goals, as a possible ethnic German, but he of course plays for the Czech Republic.

Real German strikers are nowhere to be found. Bomber Brdaric? Panzer Podolski? We doubt it. While we do not question the professional attitude of any naturalized player defending their new homeland, we bet that Germany will not reach its previous heights before it starts to produce home-grown guns in the mold of old Seeler, Voller or, at least, Bierhoff.