It also gave Klose what he had been chasing in earnest since 2010: a 15th World Cup goal and a share of the career scoring record with Ronaldo, the bullish Brazilian.
Ronaldo handled the news in gracious, wholly modern fashion, writing, “Welcome to the club,” on Twitter in three languages — English, Portuguese and German.
He was most expansive in Portuguese: “I can imagine your happiness.”
Ronaldo was the better year-round striker, a force of nature for both club and country when he was not battling knee injuries. He was also part of two Cup-winning teams, in 1994 and 2002.
But Klose, who has yet to acquire the ultimate soccer bauble with Germany and whose club career has been more unspectacular, has the clear edge in staying power.
Ronaldo, still only 37, retired three years ago and is now part of the organizing committee for this World Cup. But Klose just signed another one-year contract with his Italian club team, Lazio, and happily accepted one more call from one of his biggest fans: Germany’s manager, Joachim Löw.
“When he’s fit, he is terribly important to my team,” Löw told Bild, a German newspaper, before the Cup. “His secret is his professionalism. His strength is his will.”
The other star forwards of Klose’s generation are gone at this level. Thierry Henry, at 36, is a Major League Soccer player only and is doing commentary in Brazil for the BBC. Ruud van Nistelrooy, 38, is retired and doing commentary for ESPN. Ryan Giggs, a Welsh winger who played until 40 for Manchester United, retired last month and is now an assistant at United under Louis van Gaal.
But Klose, who emigrated from Poland to Germany as a child with his family, is still in the arena, matching wits and elbows in the penalty area with younger but not necessarily hungrier men.
“He was on the field for two minutes, and he scored,” Löw told reporters in Fortaleza on Saturday. “He is a player who can come on and have a decisive impact. That’s great for me, for the team and for him.”
Löw made an unusual move by picking Klose as his only pure striker for this Cup.
“I was surprised by some of Löw’s choices,” Franz Beckenbauer told France Football before the Cup. “To take just one center forward is a big risk.”
But for now, with Thomas Müller scoring three goals in more of a hybrid role in Germany’s opening match, Löw is getting production in Brazil. He also got something of a setback on Saturday night, something he had feared after the team’s blazing, 4-0 start against Portugal last week.
This was another wild ride of a match in an offensive-minded World Cup: scoreless at the half despite ample opportunities, and then unchained in the second half.
Ottmar Hitzfeld, Switzerland’s veteran manager, attributed the high scoring in this Cup in part to mistakes brought on by the furious pace. Near the end of Germany’s game Saturday, after all the energy spent, most of the combatants looked exhausted and were leaning forward, hands on their thighs, gasping for air as they discussed plans for free kicks.
The midfield, usually a daunting obstacle course in the modern game, looked like a quick transition area to the next strike. But even though Klose brought Germany back with his goal in the 71st minute, he could not convert on another chance down the stretch that would have given his team the lead, misfiring on a shot just inside the box that sailed left.
Still, on balance, it was a day for great goal scorers to affirm their greatness by delivering when their teams needed them most. First came Lionel Messi’s curling left-footed shot in stoppage time for Argentina. Then came Klose’s right-footed stab for Germany.
The goal was his 70th for his country, and it also allowed him to join Pelé and Uwe Seeler as the only men to score in four World Cups. Klose celebrated in customary fashion: sprinting toward the sideline and flipping forward.
But once he was in the air, it became clear that he was not going to land in the customary fashion. Wearing the wide-eyed look of an intermediate skier caught on an expert run, he under-rotated and eventually landed on his bottom. Still, Germany, thanks to him, is on top of its group, at least until the Americans play on Sunday.
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