Having announced his international retirement on Friday, Germany’s midfield general Bastian Schweinsteiger walks away from die Mannschaft two years after his crowning moment in helping win the 2014 World Cup.
Bloodied, but unbowed, Schweinsteiger was magnificent at Rio de Janeiro’s iconic Maracana stadium in the final, ensuring Germany controlled the midfield before Mario Goetze’s extra-time winning goal.
After 12 years and24 goals in 120 international appearances, ‘Schweini’ leaves having been a key factor in Germany reaching at least the semi-final stage of the last six major tournaments.
The last two injury-hit years have been unkind to the 31-year-old, who opted to quit Bayern Munich, the club he joined as a teenager in 1998, for a high-profile switch to Manchester United in 2015.
A knee injury in January was aggravated while on Germany duty in March, restricting him to a handful of games, before coming off the bench in their opening Euro 2016 group game to score with his third touch of the ball in a 2-0 win over Ukraine.
The March injury to the medial ligament in his right knee meant he played in only five of Germany’s six Euro 2016 games — sitting out the goalless draw against Poland — and started only the semi-final defeat to France.
On his return to Old Trafford, after marrying tennis star Ana Ivanovic, new United boss Jose Mourinho has reportedly told the Germany star he is free to find a new club with two years left on his contract.
With his club future open, now is the right time for Schweinsteiger to quit international football with Germany to play their opening 2018 World Cup qualifier in September.
– debut at 19 -As a 19-year-old, he made his senior international debut in 2004.
Plucked from the Under-21 team, he played at Euro 2004 where Germany crashed out in the group phases — the only time Schweinsteiger went home before the knock-out stage of either a World Cup or European Championships.
Schweinsteiger scored the first of his 24 goals in a friendly win over Russia in 2005.
By the age of 22, he had already made more than 40 appearances for Germany.
He cemented his defensive midfield place as the hosts finished third at the 2006 World Cup.
His red card in the group stages of Euro 2008 saw him serve his suspension watching the next game alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who ticked him off for being sent off for reacting to a challenge in the shock 2-1 defeat to Croatia.
Germany reached the Euro 2008 final with Schweinsteiger scoring a superb goal in their 3-2 quarter-final win over Portugal.
By the 2010 World Cup, Schweinsteiger was in charge of Germany’s midfield general when Michael Ballack was ruled out by injury.
0 comments:
Post a Comment