Defending champions Bayern Munich will welcome striker Miroslav Klose back from injury this weekend as they prepare for the last two matches of a thrilling Bundesliga title scrap.
Bayern (63 points) sit behind leaders VfL Wolfsburg on goal difference and face a Hoffenheim side on Saturday who led the league at the halfway mark of their debut season in the top flight before dropping down the table after the winter break.
Klose returns to action after two months out with an ankle injury and Bayern will be hoping the striker can hit the ground running if they are to emerge on top of a titanic tussle where the top four sides are separated by a mere two points.
Hertha Berlin sit just behind the leading duo on 62 points with VfB Stuttgart a further point adrift in fourth place.
"Whoever loses a game now will probably play in the UEFA Cup (Europa League) next season," said Bayern interim coach Jupp Heynckes, who took over when Juergen Klinsmann was sacked with five matches remaining.
Heynckes was hired to salvage an automatic Champions League berth out of a disappointing season but has kept Bayern in the title race and believes anything could still happen.
"Calculation and speculation are totally out of place. We just have to concentrate on our next game," Heynckes said.
Hoffenheim could provide a stiff test if they can rediscover the early-season form that took the Bundesliga by storm at the end of last year.
However, a 12-match winless streak at the start of 2009 took the wind out of their sails and delighted a Bayern side that had accused their newly promoted rivals of arrogance in a bitter war-of-words that rumbled on for the first half of the season.
Seventh-placed Hoffenheim have since recovered with two wins and are eager to avenge their stoppage time defeat to Bayern in December.
Leaders Wolfsburg travel to Hanover 96 in what could be a high-scoring affair against a side that have just secured top flight soccer for next season.
Wolfsburg strikers Brazilian Grafite and Bosnian Edin Dzeko have been a formidable force with a combined 46 goals and are expected to flourish against the worst defence in the league.
Third-placed Hertha Berlin remain in the hunt for a first championship since 1931, and they take on a Schalke side eager to end a disappointing season as quickly as possible before current Wolfsburg coach Felix Magath takes over.
Stuttgart also welcome back leading striker Mario Gomez from a minor muscle injury and they should prove too strong for Energie Cottbus, who are battling to avoid relegation.
[Soccernet]
Although German veteran striker Miroslav Klose had a relatively mediocre season at Bayern Munich, German coach Joachim Löw has expressed his firm belief that Klose is once again in top form.
'I've never seen him looking so fit, so agile and so strong,' Löw said at a press conference on Thursday, three days before Germany's Group B opener in Klagenfurt.
Klose, the winner of the Golden Boot Award in 2006, scored in Germany's recent 2-2 draw against Belarus, and has been regaining momentum and improving in performance. Löw heaped praise on Klose, declaring that he was in top physical form and "back to his old dynamic self".
While Klose will soon be turning 30 - the day after the Germany-Poland match, to be exact - his stellar record of 39 goals in 75 games promises that he is still one to watch.
What else needs to be said about one of Germany's most experienced players in the current squad? You've seen his heroics in the past two World Cups, scoring 5 goals in 2002 and winning the Golden Boot in 2006. He now has a total tally of 10 World Cup goals. With 39 goals out of 75 appearances for the team, he's currently ranked 6th in Germany's all time top scorer's list, joining the ranks of past greats like Uwe Seeler and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. He still has someway to go to beat his former coach, Jürgen Klinsmann. With his place on the squad almost guaranteed for Euro 2008, it seems like he has a good chance of bettering his goalscoring tally.
Klose is known for his goalscoring instincts, aerial ability, and unselfish play. His consistency as a goal-scorer in his first season at Kaiserslautern earned him his first international cap and he made his debut against Albania on March 24, 2001. Germany won the match 2–1, with Klose scoring Germany's second goal. He continued to impress and was chosen for the 2002 World Cup. He scored a hat-trick against Saudi Arabia in the opening game and performed his trademark goal celebration of a front-flip five times during the 2002 World Cup.
Klose was named to his second successive World Cup team for the 2006 World Cup. In the opening match against Costa Rica, coinciding with his 28th birthday, Klose scored two goals for Germany, in the 17th and 61st minutes, helping them to a 4-2 win. He scored another two goals against Ecuador on June 20, putting him on top of the tournament top scorer list with four goals. Klose also played a major part in Germany's 2–0 win over Sweden in the first knockout round, demonstrating his ability to provide assists as he set up strike partner Lukas Podolski for both goals.
Probably one of the most important goals Klose scored was against Argentina in the quarterfinals, where he scored the equalizing goal when Germany were down 1-0. Germany than went on to win the game on a penalty shootout. Klose is the first German since Gerd Müller in the 1970s to become the top scorer at a World Cup, and the first World Cup finals top scorer from unified Germany.
If his current form is anything to go by, we expect to be seeing more of him during Euro 2008. But for now, we will just enjoy watching some of the highlights of the goals he's scored.
Top 10 Klose goals in the Bundesliga.
Top 10 Klose goals for country.
The shortlist of the FIFA World Player of the Year award has been released.
Michael Ballack, Miroslav Klose, Philippe Lahm and Jens Lehmann are the 4 German players nominated for this year's prize which will be awarded in Zurich on December 18. Ballack and Lehmann play in the English Premier League for Chelsea and Arsenal while Klose and Lahm ply their trade in the German Bundesliga for Werder Bremen and Bayern Munich respectively.
However, this year's competition is expected to come down to a contest between Fabio Cannavaro, captain of World Cup winners Italy, and Arsenal's French striker Thierry Henry, a losing finalist in both the Champions League and the World Cup.
The head coaches and captains of all national teams will now vote for their best players from the shortlist.
FIFA World Player of the Year shortlist:
Adriano (Inter Milan, Brazil), Michael Ballack (Chelsea, Germany), Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus, Italy), Fabio Cannavaro (Real Madrid, Italy), Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United, Portugal), Petr Cech (Chelsea, Czech Republic), Deco (Barcelona, Portugal), Didier Drogba (Chelsea, Ivory Coast), Michael Essien (Chelsea, Ghana), Samuel Eto'o (Barcelona, Cameroon), Luis Figo (Inter Milan, Portugal), Gennaro Gattuso (AC Milan, Italy), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool, England), Thierry Henry (Arsenal, France), Kaka (AC Milan, Brazil), Miroslav Klose (Werder Bremen, Germany), Philippe Lahm (Bayern Munich, Germany), Frank Lampard (Chelsea, England), Jens Lehmann (Arsenal, Germany), Alessandro Nesta (AC Milan, Italy), Andrea Pirlo (AC Milan, Italy), Franck Ribery (Marseille, France), Juan Roman Riquelme (Villarreal, Argentina), Ronaldinho (Barcelona, Brazil), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United, England), Tomas Rosicky (Arsenal, Czech Republic), Andriy Shevchenko (Chelsea, Ukraine), Lilian Thuram (Barcelona, France), Patrick Vieira (Inter Milan, France), Zinedine Zidane (retired, France).
