What kind of footballers have countries struggled to produce in recent years?
“If you look across Europe and the world of football, then South America is the only continent to develop strikers today,” said Arsene Wenger in 2014. “At least 80 per cent come from South America.”The Arsenal manager has a valid point. A quick glance at the best strikers in the world today shows the majority come from Argentina, Uruguay and Chile. Wenger’s reasoning was that in this day and age, European academies do not teach you to fight for the ball compared to learning football on the streets where one jostles with bigger players for possession. Instead, they focus on honing your technique on the ball, with the physical aspects of the game deemed secondary. Keeping that in mind, we look at various countries and the type of players they have failed to produce in recent years.
#1 Germany - Strikers
When Miroslav Klose broke the record for most goals scored in World Cup history, we were witnessing Germany’s last great striker in action. With 16 goals spread across four World Cups, then 36-year-old Klose retired from international football on a high after winning the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Lukas Podolski started brightly as a youngster back in the 2006 World Cup but faded away soon after, never achieving the same consistency after Die Mannschaft moved away from the traditional 4-4-2 to a 4-2-3-1. He has not done anything of note for the national side since 2011, barely scoring one goal a year.
Mario Gomez came and went before he could establish himself as a top striker. Two incredible seasons with Bayern Munich also saw him in the Germany squad that finished runners-up in Euro 2012, after which injuries have seen his career decline.
Then there is the case of Thomas Muller, who could also break Klose’s record in the 2018 World Cup (he is six goals away). But it is hard to categorize Muller as an out-and-out striker. The 26-year-old German is more of an advanced attacking midfielder who loves to find space and wreak havoc – be it inside the box or on the wing.
Germany have a number of quality wide forwards to fall back on. But strikers are now a rare breed in Germany where nurturing players with an eye on developing their individual skills on the ball is prioritised.