Mario Gomez
- Position: Forward
- Age: 26
- Birth Date: Jul 10, 1985
- Birth Place: Germany
- Height: 1.89m
- Weight: 84 kg
Mario Gómez García (German pronunciation: [ˈmaːʁioː ˈɡɔmɛs]; born 10 July 1985) is a German footballer who plays as a striker for Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga and the German national team. Gómez joined Bayern after six years in Stuttgart. The fee was a record for a player transferred in the Bundesliga, estimated to be €30–35 million. When Stuttgart became champions in 2006–07, Gómez contributed 14 goals and 7 assists at the age of 21 and was selected German footballer of the year.
Mario Gomez can not waste his opportunities in this championship for Germany to be successful.
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Personal life
Gómez was born in Riedlingen. He was raised
in nearby Unlingen, an Upper Swabian village in the state of Baden-Württemberg
in southwestern Germany about 95 km south of Stuttgart and 175 km west of
Munich. Gómez is of German-Spanish descent (his father, Pepe Gómez, is Spanish
from Albuñán, Granada and his mother, Christel Roth, is German). He has both
German and Spanish citizenship and decided to play for the German national
team. His first appearance for the team was in February 2007 against
Switzerland and he has been called up regularly since.
Gomez is notable as being outspoken about
social matters. For example regarding homosexuality in football he has stated
that he believes gay players should be open about their sexuality and thinks
that "they would play as if they had been liberated". He also would
like a "radical rethink" about homosexuality in football.
Gómez is currently in a long-term
relationship with his girlfriend, Silvia Meichel.
Scoring 80 goals in all competitions over the last two seasons for a massive club like Bayern Munich is good enough to guarantee a player a start for his national side. Well, it's a guarantee unless your name is Mario Gomez.
No matter how good of form Gomez has been in for his club throughout his career, he's never been able to fully translate that over to the national side. It's easy to say Gomez just hasn't risen to the occasion when wearing the colors of Germany. Mario was part of the Germany team in Euro 2008 and World Cup 2010, but he failed to find the net in either competition. In fact, his ineptitude in front of goal in Austria/Switzerland was widely lampooned by the world media.
Stats are misleading in the case of Gomez. He has scored 22 times for his country in 52 appearances, and a closer look at those goals show that 8 of those goals came in qualifiers for Euro 2008 and Euro 2012. (Gomez didn't score in qualifiers leading up to World Cup 2010.) However, those goals came against world "powers" San Marino, Kazakhstan, Austria, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Belgium. The strongest competition he's scored against came in friendlies against Uruguay and Australia.
Joachim Löw abandoned the 4-4-2 for a 4-2-3-1 after the group stages of Euro 2008. Gomez's poor performance in front of the net accelerated this move. He was benched while Miroslav Klose retained his starting position. It's tough to argue Löw for favoring Klose over Gomez. Club form has never mattered in the case of Klose. Rudi Völler, Jürgen Klinsmann, and now Löw have stuck by him for one simple reason: He scores big goals in big games for Germany. He definitely hasn't failed to score in major tournaments. With 25 goals in qualifying and 16 goals in those tournaments, you can easily see why Klose is favored.
The general (and correct) consensus is that Gomez is a confidence-dependent striker. There is no doubt that when he gets going, he's absolutely tough to stop. As I said in the first sentence of this piece, Mario has scored 80 goals for Bayern over the last two seasons. If your name is not Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, that number is astronomical. One must also take into consideration to sheer volume of opportunities that Gomez gets to score in a Bayern shirt. Without exact figures in front of me, I will make the assumption that he sees roughly about one billion chances. It normally takes Gomez a couple of chances to get going, but when he does, he can score with the best.
As long as Klose remains healthy, Gomez will likely be starting the tournament from the bench. It will be important for him (and Germany) that he capitalize on the chances that he receives during his opportunities on the pitch. If he's wasteful like he was in 2008, you can be sure that Löw will try his other options. Gome and Klose are the only forwards that are being brought to Poland/Ukraine, but Löw has let it be known that he will be willing to put Marco Reus and/or Andre Schürrle up top to find goals. While Germany does have a potential weakness in defense, the forward position should not be an issue. The service will be there when Gomez sees the field. Thomas Müller, Mesut Özil, and Lukas Podolski are as talented an attacking trio that you'll find.
Germany has twenty one victories and one loss when Mario Gomez scores a goal. For Germany to reach their goal of winning the 2012 European Championship, Gomez is going to have score goals. They won't be able to rely on a 34 year old Miroslav Klose to carry them through another tournament. Mario Gomez National Team: Germany Club: Bayern Munich Age: 26 Position: Forward Role On Team: Second choice striker in Germany's 4-2-3-1
Club career
VfB Stuttgart
Gómez celebrates winning the Bundesliga
with VfB Stuttgart in 2007
In 2004, Gómez played 10 minutes for VfB
Stuttgart in the Champions League in a game against Chelsea on 9 March and made
his debut in the Bundesliga (national league) on 8 May.
In the 2004–05 season, playing for VfB
Stuttgart's team in the Regionalliga Süd (Regional League South, then part of
the third tier of German football after the national team and the Bundesliga),
he scored 15 times in 24 games and was to be capped eight times in the first
team.
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In the 2005–06 season, Gómez joined the
first team permanently. He played 30 times in the Bundesliga, scoring six times
at this level, his first goal coming on 17 September 2005. The striker also
played five times in the UEFA Cup, scoring twice, and in three times in the
DFB-Pokal.
In the 2006–07 season the youngster
established himself as one of the top scorers in the Bundesliga. However, he
broke his hand on 10 March 2007 and suffered a torn ligament in his left knee.
He made his comeback on 12 May 2007, and immediately scored after coming on
from the bench. In that game, VfB Stuttgart defeated VfL Bochum (3–2) and went
two points clear heading into the Bundesliga's final weekend where they won at
home against Energie Cottbus, thus becoming German champions. Furthermore, VfB
Stuttgart also reached final of the DFB-Pokal, where Gómez participated, but
VfB Stuttgart lost to 1. FC Nuremberg. After the season, he was named German
Footballer of the Year for 2007. Gómez extended his contract at VfB Stuttgart
until 2012.
While, in the 2007–08 season, the rest of
his team struggled to keep performing at their 2006–07 season standards, Gómez
remained at an astonishingly high level, scoring 19 goals in 25 appearances,
second in the Bundesliga's Top Scorer list, just behind Bayern Munich's Luca
Toni who scored 24 times. In the cup Gómez was even the top scorer with six
goals. Because of his development, many big clubs became interested in the then
23 year old forward. Gómez gained the nickname "Mr. Zuverlässig"
("Mr. Reliable"), as seen in his second of three goals against
Bundesliga rival Werder Bremen (final score 6–3), where he managed to net in a
virtually unreachable pass by teammate Yıldıray Baştürk. In the 2008–09 season
Gómez hit four goals to inspire VfB Stuttgart to a 4–1 victory over Bundesliga
leaders VfL Wolfsburg.
FC Bayern Munich
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2009–10 season
On 26 May 2009, Gómez was eventually
transferred to Bayern Munich on a Bundesliga record transfer fee, signing a
four-year contract. The amount of the transfer fee varies from 30–35 million
euro, depending on different sources. Gómez was not scoring like his usual self
in his first season for Bayern with just 10 goals but in the cup he was more
prolific with 3 goals in just four games, unfortunately Gómez was short of
assists as well as goals. Quite surprisingly he made an impact as he was to
start the majority of games next season for Bayern. Also in his first season
Gómez was teamed up with his international strike partner Miroslav Klose to
give him some first team experience.
2010–11 season
After an erratic first season at Bayern
with 10 goals in 29 league appearances, Gómez established himself as a starter
during the 2010–11 season (to an extent at the expense of Miroslav Klose and
due to the injury sustained by Ivica Olić) and finished as top goalscorer in the
Bundesliga with 28 goals. He scored his 100th Bundesliga goal with his third
strike in a 1–8 away victory over FC St. Pauli on 7 May 2011, the hat-trick
already being his fifth in the Bundesliga in the 2010–11 season, and his sixth
overall, adding in his hat-trick against Cluj in the Champions League. Gómez
has scored 13 hat-tricks in his Bundesliga career, three with Stuttgart and ten
with Bayern. Gómez also netted eight times in the Champions League and finished
in second place in this season's top scorers, tied with Samuel Eto'o, although
Bayern were eliminated in the Round of 16 by Internazionale. Gómez overall in
all competitions scored 39 goals.
2011–12 season
Gómez after Bayern Munich's defeat against
Chelsea in the 2012 Champions League Final
Gómez started the 2011–12 season in similar
style towards the previous season and he opened his league account on 20 August
2011 in Bayern's thrashing of Hamburger SV. Seven days later Gómez scored a
hat-trick away to 1. FC Kaiserslautern. On 10 September, Gómez then netted four
goals in Bayern Munich's 7–0 rout of Freiburg, sealing four straight wins for
the Bavarians and a return to the top of the Bundesliga table. On 27 September,
the striker netted two first half goals as Bayern defeated Manchester City 2–0
in the group stages of the Champions League, a game infamously remembered for
which City striker Carlos Tevez reportedly refused to play.
Gómez scored his second brace of the
Bundesliga campaign against Hertha BSC when Bayern won 4–0. Gómez then got
another brace on 29 October when Bayern then defeated 1. FC Nuremberg 4–0. Then
on 11 December 2011, he scored his third brace of the season and sealed
Bayern's 2–1 win over southern rivals Stuttgart. On 2 November 2011, he netted
a hat-trick in a Champions League group stage game against Serie A club S.S.C.
Napoli. Bayern went on to win 3–2. In the DFB-Pokal Gómez scored just two
goals. On 16 December 2011, Gómez scored his 50th goal for the calendar year of
2011 against 1. FC Köln.
On 13 March 2012, the second leg of their
Champions League tie against FC Basel; the match saw the Bavarians overturn
their 1–0 away loss as Gómez netted four of Bayern's seven goals, firing the
Bavarians through to the quarter-finals 7–1 on aggregate. In the
quarter-finals, Bayern faced Ligue 1 side Marseille and in the first-leg on 28
March, Gómez fired in his 11th Champions League goal of the campaign in a 2–0
win for the Bavarians.
On 4 April, Gómez signed a new contract
with Bayern Munich, keeping him at the club until the summer of 2016. Gómez
scored the winning goal in Bayern's 2–1 victory over Real Madrid in the first
leg of their semi-final clash, Bayern went on to win the tie 3–1 on penalties
after the teams were deadlocked 3–3 on aggregate.
International career
Euro 2008
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Gómez has both German and Spanish
citizenship, but played for all German youth national teams from age 17. He
made his debut for the German national team against Switzerland on 7 February
2007. Germany won the match 3–1, with Gómez scoring Germany's second goal.
Gómez gained his second cap for Germany, coming on as a substitute for Kevin
Kurányi in a Euro 2008 qualifier against San Marino, scoring two goals that contributed
to a final 6–0 victory.
After Gómez impressed in pre-tournament
friendlies, Joachim Löw called him up to the German squad for Euro 2008. Löw
broke up the strike partnership of Lukas Podolski and Miroslav Klose with
Podolski moving out to the left wing at the expense of talismanic midfielder
Bastian Schweinsteiger and Gómez partnering Klose up front. Unfortunately, he
was not able to reproduce his club form and missed several clear-cut chances
including a crucial one in the last group match against Austria. Germany
eventually won courtesy of a Michael Ballack free kick to seal a place in the
knock-out stages but Löw dropped Gómez to the bench and reverted back to the
Podolski-Klose partnership. He was an unused substitute in the quarterfinal and
semifinal and later came off the bench in the final of Euro 2008 for Miroslav
Klose but could not prevent Germany from losing 1–0 to Spain.
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World Cup 2010
In a friendly match against the United Arab
Emirates played on 2 June 2009, Gómez netted four goals, ending his 15-game
goal drought for the national team,[23] in Germany's 7–2 thrashing.
Gómez was named as one of the six strikers
in Joachim Löw's 23-man squad for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. He
featured in four out of seven German matches at the World Cup, all from the
substitutes bench against Australia, replacing Mesut Özil in the 73rd minute,
Serbia, coming on for left back Holger Badstuber in the 77th minute, England,
coming on for fellow forward Miroslav Klose in the 72nd minute and Spain replacing
defensive midfielder Sami Khedira on 80 minutes. Again he did not score a goal
at a major tournament.
Euro 2012
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Although being the second choice behind
Miroslav Klose as center-forward during Germany's qualification for Euro 2012,
Gómez played regularly and contributed goals against every opponent of that
campaign: Kazakhstan, Austria, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Belgium. This includes
two goals against Austria in Germany's 2–1 away win in the
Ernst-Happel-Stadion, netting into the very same goal in which despite good
goalscoring opportunities he couldn't score three years earlier during Euro
2008, a performance for which he was criticized by the German media and fans of
the Mannschaft. Observers saw him overcome a little trauma and in a spontaneous
gesture of relief, he kissed the goalpost after he scored the first goal.
Prior to the Euro 2012 in a 3–3 draw
against Ukraine in the opening game at the renovated Olympic Stadion of Kiev –
the site of the Euro 2012 final match – Gómez captained Germany for the first
time. It was his 50th international cap, and aged 26, he was Germany's oldest
player in the starting lineup.
Gómez scored the only, and winning, goal
against Portugal in their Euro 2012 starting match in Poland-Ukraine.[26] He
then scored twice against the Netherlands in Germany's second group B match,
making it three goals in two games.
Style of play
Gómez can shoot with both feet, and is
considered to be an aerial threat. His best ability however remains as his
anticipation to crosses and passes and finish them. Arsène Wenger described him
as "a great finisher who is often in the right place to finish off moves."
Moreover, his body balance and ability to hold up the ball often creates
trouble for defenders. During his time at Bayern, his ability to appear
"at the right place at the right time" proved to be one of Bayern's
most lethal attacking weapons as Ribéry and Robben can often out-run defenders
and provide a cross for Gómez.
Honours
Club
VfB Stuttgart
·
Bundesliga: 2006–07
·
Bayern Munich
·
Bundesliga: 2009–10
·
DFB-Pokal: 2009–10
·
DFL-Supercup: 2010
·
UEFA Champions League
Runner-up: 2009–10, 2011–12
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National team
Germany
FIFA World Cup 2010: Third place – Bronze
medal
UEFA European Football Championship
Runner-up: 2008
[edit]Individual
Bundesliga Top Goalscorer (28 goals): 2011
German Footballer of the Year: 2007
Most expensive Bundesliga transfer
| 2012/13 STATISTICS | ||||||||||||||||||||
| TEAM | Competition | GS | SB | G | A | SH | SG | FC | FS | YC | RC | |||||||||
| Germany | EC | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Germany | Int | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Season Totals | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 12 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 2011/12 STATISTICS | ||||||||||||||||||||
| TEAM | Competition | GS | SB | G | A | SH | SG | FC | FS | YC | RC | |||||||||
| Bayern Munich | Ger Cup | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 14 | 8 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 0 | |||||||||
| Bayern Munich | Bund | 30 | 3 | 26 | 3 | 101 | 56 | 45 | 18 | 2 | 0 | |||||||||
| Germany | Int | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Bayern Munich | UCL | 11 | 1 | 12 | 0 | 43 | 21 | 16 | 6 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Germany | ECQ | 4 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 13 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Season Totals | 54 | 6 | 48 | 5 | 177 | 95 | 72 | 30 | 3 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 2010/11 STATISTICS | ||||||||||||||||||||
| TEAM | Competition | GS | SB | G | A | SH | SG | FC | FS | YC | RC | |||||||||
| Germany | ECQ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Bayern Munich | UCL | 6 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 22 | 12 | 15 | 7 | 2 | 0 | |||||||||
| Germany | Int | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Bayern Munich | Bund | 27 | 5 | 28 | 2 | 95 | 48 | 34 | 24 | 2 | 0 | |||||||||
| Germany | WC | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Bayern Munich | Ger Cup | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Season Totals | 39 | 16 | 42 | 4 | 135 | 68 | 56 | 34 | 4 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 2009/10 STATISTICS | ||||||||||||||||||||
| TEAM | Competition | GS | SB | G | A | SH | SG | FC | FS | YC | RC | |||||||||
| Bayern Munich | Ger Cup | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Bayern Munich | Bund | 21 | 8 | 10 | 3 | 69 | 25 | 34 | 20 | 1 | 0 | |||||||||
| Germany | Int | 4 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Bayern Munich | UCL | 4 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Germany | WCQ | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Season Totals | 35 | 19 | 19 | 5 | 106 | 39 | 46 | 34 | 1 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 2008/09 STATISTICS | ||||||||||||||||||||
| TEAM | Competition | GS | SB | G | A | SH | SG | FC | FS | YC | RC | |||||||||
| Germany | EC | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Germany | WCQ | 2 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 14 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Germany | ECQ | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Germany | Int | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| VfB Stuttgart | UEFA | 8 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 19 | 10 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 0 | |||||||||
| VfB Stuttgart | Bund | 30 | 2 | 24 | 6 | 121 | 46 | 49 | 49 | 4 | 0 | |||||||||
| VfB Stuttgart | Ger Cup | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 12 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Season Totals | 51 | 11 | 37 | 11 | 184 | 69 | 71 | 76 | 5 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 2007/08 STATISTICS | ||||||||||||||||||||
| TEAM | Competition | GS | SB | G | A | SH | SG | FC | FS | YC | RC | |||||||||
| VfB Stuttgart | UCL | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 15 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Germany | Int | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| VfB Stuttgart | Bund | 23 | 2 | 19 | 3 | 74 | 37 | 39 | 43 | 1 | 0 | |||||||||
| Season Totals | 28 | 2 | 23 | 3 | 89 | 43 | 46 | 47 | 1 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 2006/07 STATISTICS | ||||||||||||||||||||
| TEAM | Competition | GS | SB | G | A | SH | SG | FC | FS | YC | RC | |||||||||
| VfB Stuttgart | Bund | 22 | 3 | 14 | 5 | 60 | 18 | 46 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |||||||||
| VfB Stuttgart | Ger Cup | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||||||||
| Season Totals | 24 | 5 | 15 | 5 | 60 | 18 | 46 | 0 | 3 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 2005/06 STATISTICS | ||||||||||||||||||||
| TEAM | Competition | GS | SB | G | A | SH | SG | FC | FS | YC | RC | |||||||||
| VfB Stuttgart | UEFA | 1 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| VfB Stuttgart | Bund | 6 | 21 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |||||||||
| Season Totals | 7 | 25 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 2004/05 STATISTICS | ||||||||||||||||||||
| TEAM | Competition | GS | SB | G | A | SH | SG | FC | FS | YC | RC | |||||||||
| VfB Stuttgart | Bund | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| VfB Stuttgart | UEFA | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Season Totals | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 2003/04 STATISTICS | ||||||||||||||||||||
| TEAM | Competition | GS | SB | G | A | SH | SG | FC | FS | YC | RC | |||||||||
| VfB Stuttgart | UCL | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
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