With less than eight minutes to go in extra time in a World Cup final match between Germany and Argentina at the Maracana Stadium in 2014, Andre Schurrle embarked on a powerful mesmerizing run down the left flank, lifted a hopeful and powerful cross towards the six-yard box of the opposition, picking out the awaiting Gotze, the substitute brilliantly controlled the ball on his chest, before volleying the ball into the far corner of the net through his left foot past the helpless Argentine shot-stopper Sergio Romero.
With that goal, Mario Gotze put an end to a final World Cup match that looks to be going towards a penalty shootout with his moment of pure brilliant and quality to win the ‘Die Mannschaft‘ the fourth most prestigious World Cup since their triumph in 1990.
The German victory against ‘La Albiceleste‘ at the Maracana stadium will forever be in the memories of German fans, most especially Mario Gotze who saved the day for the ‘Die Mannschaft’ of Germany.
“Prove that you are better than Messi, you can decide the match today” those were the words of Joachim Low the Germany manager to Gotze before the extra time commenced. Lo and behold the German youngster delivered and proved to be better than Messi et al on the field on that faithful day at the Maracana stadium, in Rio De Janeiro.
So the question we/you should ask is what happened to the young man who was touted to be the face of German football?
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Sometimes the word ‘Ill luck‘ can prove to be very true in some cases, the believes that scoring the ‘Die Mannschaft‘ final goal in a World Cup final match could sometimes bring bad luck or could be true.
With Helmut Rahn’s goal in 1954, which delivered then West Germany first title, and Gerd Muller whose brilliant strike put the Netherlands national team to the sword 20 years later, both players later suffered enervating illness after retirement. Same as Andres Brehme whose penalty won the 1990 World Cup for the German fell into debt and edged closer to bankruptcy, all of these bad occurrences so to speak are a testament that ill-luck happens.
If those unpalatable events that befell the aforementioned players were anything to believe, then we could conclude that perhaps that is what has also befall Mario Gotze. Although he’s still relatively young at 27, a kind of age that has proved to be the peak of almost every football star, but for Gotze as it stands it seems the peak isn’t coming back anytime soon.
The Making Of Gotze
Mario Gotze burst onto the scene in the year 2010-11 thereabout, and during that period it looked like the ‘Die Mannschaft‘ has found the next face of Germany football at the age of 18 years with Borussia Dortmund youth team before he now became an integral member of then Jurgen Kloop led side, that won a back to back Bundesliga titles with Dortmund.
He alongside Lewandowski, Jakub Blaszczykowski, and others helped Dortmund reached the UEFA Champions League final against Bayern Munich.
They lost painfully to the Bavarians, he showed to the world that season he has a lot to offer and the German football at large as he went on to score 12 goals and 14 assists in all competitions, and having done impressively well both in the league and Champions League he was praised by former Dortmund legend Matthias Sammer.
Prior to Dortmund Champions League semi-final match against Real Madrid which eventually got them to the final against Bayern Munich, news broke that the Bavarians had matched the release clause in his contract that will see him move to then Pep Guardiola side, despite signing a 12 months contract extension earlier with the Signal Iduna Parkside.
The Decline
Moving to a bigger and more ambitious team has always been the dream of every football star, moving to Bayern Munich must have been a dream come through for Gotze. But then, on the other hand, his decline started from Bayern Munich, although he started his campaign debut on a decent note scoring 13 goals, 9 assists and he was involved in a goal in every 107 minutes for the Bavarians.
Looking at how his debut campaign panned out that season, many expected him to leverage on that performance going forward in the subsequent season. Thankfully for him, he did just that and even took that form to the international scene with Germany where he went on to write his name in the history book of German football and also become a hero against the ‘Albiceleste’ of Argentina at the 2014 World Cup final in Rio De Janeiro.
After Germany’s triumph at the World Cup, Gotze’s career was expected to be on a high trajectory, but unfortunately, it was his decline that took a turn. He continued to deliver decent and double-digit number under Pep Guardiola, yet he couldn’t reach the kind of form he showed at Dortmund that prompted Bayern Munich to signed him, even when the manager continuously tweaking his position and the team to his favor, his influence and place in the team gradually continued to wane down.
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When Gotze couldn’t get into the team again many were of the opinion that the pressure of playing for a big club in the mode of Bayern Munich compared to where he was coming from appeared to have weighed him down and affected his mentality into getting the managers nod. It looks evident that the manager doesn’t put much faith in him anymore, which made him dropped to the bench.
Another thing that also contributed to his decline was injuries, recall in his debut campaign for the Bavarians, he started just 11 matches in the league as injuries and fitness concerns didn’t allow him to get more playing time. He continued slipping down the pecking order in the team, which comes as a blessing in disguise for some other players of the team.
Gotze’s health condition is also part of the things that contributed to his decline. In early 2017, it was reported that he had been suffering from a Metabolic Disorder, health condition was later confirmed to be Myopathy, a muscular disorder that affects the fibers in the muscles, affecting the muscles not to function correctly in the body system. However, he was treated and was able to train and play again.
As his stint with the Bavarian continues ticking, he still couldn’t get into the team even when Pep Guardiola left, spent the entirety of the season on the bench. Eventually, he was eased out of the team as Bayern Munich failed to renew his contract and he was allowed to move on for free in the summer of 2016 back to his former club.
As human we make some decision that really doesn’t impact our lives positively or favor us sometimes, many would blame Gotze for his decision to move to Bayern Munich, but then the truth is sometimes we make the right one and sometimes it’s could be the wrong one.
The question is how swift can we actually correct the wrong decision made initially, for Gotze correcting his wrong decision was to go back to Dortmund.
Possible Resurgence
His return to Dortmund was more like a ‘Prodigal Son‘ in the holy book when he stated “I regretted joining Bayern Munich three years before” after completing a €26 million move back to Dortmund from Bayern Munich.
Many thought that would be an opportunity for his rebirth, but sadly he didn’t turn out that way, although he scored in his first official come back match against RB Leipzig which they lost, and he was praised for his return to the Westfalenstadion, but since then he has been featuring for Lucien Favre led side sparingly.
The salient question many fans are asking now is, can he escape from the footballing purgatory and return back to the same Gotze we saw under Jurgen Kloop or he’s destined to just continue living off his past achievements?
Because as it stands it’s been confirmed by Dortmund Sporting Director that BVB will part ways with Gotze this summer on a mutual and respectful decision.
However, an imminent renaissance could be possible for him if he decides to reunite with the manager that gave him every opportunity to display his prowess at Dortmund. As rumors have linked the former Bayern Munich star to Liverpool, and to some other top team in Europe.
However, another question is can he command a stampede of invitations from clubs who could likely give him Champions League football?
For him to revive his career back to the top, he needs to join a team that is more suited to his dribbling brilliance, his creative vision, and his top-notch passing ability, then perhaps his career can get a lift.
If Gotze is ready to toe that line, perhaps we might get to see Gotze returns to his swashbuckling, mesmerizing, and Dortmund day’s brilliancy.
