Thomas Muller

House of Flies

all your bases belong to us
If any German player has the motivation to put a few goals past Argentina when they meet on Saturday, it's Thomas Mueller (or ‘Müller' if you figured out where the umlaut shortcut is on your keyboard). The 20-year-old has been playing for Bayern Munich for half his young life, and broke through last season as a lone striker, happily receiving service from Franck Ribery and Arjen "cut in from the right and shoot" Robben. He subsequently helped Bayern win the domestic double and played an integral part in their path to the Champions League Final.

The Bavarian is now a household name, but back in March, when he made his international debut in a friendly against Argentina, the youngster was virtually unknown outside of his home nation. One person who failed to recognize the player in the post match press conference was Diego Maradona. Yahoo! Sports summarizes the super awkward video above:

Maradona joked he thought the ballboy had arrived and felt so slighted that he stormed off and refused to return until the German left the stage to him alone.

It's fairly understandable for an Argentinean not to know the identity of a relatively unknown German player, but Maradona's failure to recognize Mueller from the starting 11 of a match he had literally just watched seems a little disrespectful, and contrary to the expectation of a manager to "know the opposition."

If Mueller adds to his tally of three World Cup goals on Saturday, putting Germany through in a repeat of the heated 2006 quarterfinal tie between the sides, perhaps Senor Maradona will no longer confuse him with a small tracksuited child.

(Note: Maradona did call Mueller a "player" and not ballboy -- the quote says that Maradona JOKED that he first thought Muller was the ballboy. Not that he actually called him that.)

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I think Maradona would probably know Muller after this game.
 

Aasim

Bumbleman
I like that he always offers himself even if he's just had the worst 5 mins ever, he will still ask for the ball. That shows good mental strength. His work rate is good aswell. Always helping out Lamn (same with Podolski).
 

FCBarca

Mike the Knife
Continue to say, the kid has been phenomenal in this WC...THE breakout player in the WC, for me
 

FCBarca

Mike the Knife
looks like i found a real talent back early last season :D i knew he would come good.

Really?...Well done...I had heard of him but hadn't really seen him play...I was soo preoccupied with Marin & Mesut that he took me by surprise...I saw the flash of talent in their friendlies though leading up to the WC.

Class player and plays a mature & 'honest' football that young players should aspire to

Shame, Germany will surely miss him against Spain
 

el tren

Adolfo Valencia
I noticed that kid already in a friendly pre season match between Cologne and Bayern, pretty much a year ago. The funny thing is that i mostly liked his through passing when vG tried him as trequartista behind Gomez and Klose ... :)
 

Cal-FCB

Wurzeltron
Quite honestly I was unimpressed with him for Bayern in the CL, I didn't really understand the hype around him. What a tournament he's had though. Such a well rounded player, he plays with such maturity given his age.
 

Barcaman

Administrator
Staff member
I noticed that kid already in a friendly pre season match between Cologne and Bayern, pretty much a year ago. The funny thing is that i mostly liked his through passing when vG tried him as trequartista behind Gomez and Klose ... :)

el tren, who will replace him in semis?
 

el tren

Adolfo Valencia
el tren, who will replace him in semis?

Hopefully Kroos. Before the tournament there was actually Trochowski seemingly set for the RW/ROM position, but Müller got in with 2 strong performances in the last 2 friendlies. FORTUNATLY. Trochowski is nowhere a game winner as Müller is and Kroos should be. I mean, both options cant replace Müller fully, as we dont have a similarly pacy, working and scoring player. The 3rd, ver offensive option would be Marin, but id say its very unlikely vs spain.

So i hope he will move Özil on the right and let Kroos play centrally for starters. They can still switch positions fluently, also with Khedira (switching Kroos-Khedira could be nice), and esp. use Kroos long shooting skills vs the strong spanish central defense (i mean we know them very well ;)).

EDIT: Hm, yeah, Cacau could also be an option, but Cacau and Klose never played together for more than 15 min of a match (usually Cacau would come in halftime and Gomez subbed for Klose in 60th min in friendlies) ... really comes down to the individual tactics he chooses vs spain.
 

barca96

New member
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