Miroslav Klose

Miroslav Klose (born Mirosław Marian Kloze June 9, 1978 in Opole, Silesia, Poland) is a German Football (soccer) who plays as a striker. He currently plays for Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga (football) in Germany, and for the German National Football Team.

Klose was the top scorer and thus the Golden Boot winner at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, with a tournament-high 5 goals. Klose also scored 5 goals in his debut World Cup, the 2002 FIFA World Cup hosted jointly by the South Korea national football team and Japan national football team, 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.

More than often, Klose's style of play has drawn comparisons with that of Gerd Müller due to his great finishing abilities, his fighting abilities to gain possession of the ball and his goal poaching style of play.

Biography

Miroslav hails from a sporting family; Miroslav Klose's mother, Barbara Jeż, was a member of the Poland national handball team (appearing in 82 international matches), and his father, Józef Kloze, played professional football in Poland and France, and he also represented the Poland National Football Team on several occassions. 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 Germany.

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.

Club career

Kaiserslautern

After a season at FC Homburg, he eventually joined the amateur division of FC Kaiserslautern.

A year after joining the club he made it into the first team. In his first 67 matches, Klose scored 33 goals. The Fußball-Bundesliga 2002/03 was a comparatively disappointing one as Klose found the back of the net a mere 7 times.

Werder Bremen

He transferred to Werder Bremen in 2004 for a sum of Euro5 million. After a lackluster start, Klose formed an impressive attacking triangle with France midfielder Johan Micoud and Croatian forward Ivan Klasnić as well as, though less frequently, Paraguayan forward Nelson Valdez, scoring 15 goals in the Bundesliga (football).

Despite his relatively slender frame, Klose is one of the best headers of the ball in the Bundesliga (football). Moreover, he combines a natural killer instinct inside the box with excellent technical ability, and is equally lethal with the ball at his feet. By 2005, the introverted Klose had established himself as one of Germany's top forwards, if not the best. In the Fußball-Bundesliga 2005/06, he scored 25 goals, the highest that season, and registered 16 assists in just 26 games in the Bundesliga.

After his strong performance at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Klose was linked by newspapers with a move away from the Weserstadion. European giants FC Barcelona and Juventus were listed among his potential suitors. Klose was also heavily linked with a move to Bayern Munich, with Bayern president Franz Beckenbauer an admirer of Klose.

On June 7 2007, Klose confirmed that he would leave Werder Bremen for Bayern Munich either before the 2007-08 season or upon the expiration of his contract with Werder Bremen at the end of the 2007-08 season.

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