March 30, 2008...7:01 pm
Player Profile: Lukas Podolski
Lukas Podolski came off the bench to score a vital late equaliser for leaders Bayern in the Bavarian derby at Nürnberg on Saturday. It was the German international’s first league goal of the season. Despite starring consistently for the national team - he was superb in the midweek win over Switzerland - it all seems to have gone wrong for the former Köln hero. Back in 2005, I was tipping him for greatness…
Gerd Müller says he will be world-class at 21, Bayern Munich lust after his services, and to the fans of 1. FC Köln he is the Prince. Brian O’Driscoll continues his series of Bundesliga player profiles by focusing on Germany’s great striking hope, Lukas Podolski.
Lukas Podolski (1. FC Köln and Germany)
“Der Kaiser,“ “Der Bomber,“ “Prinz Poldi.“ German tabloids have a love affair with the ostentatious monicker. It can be earned in one of two ways: by controversial force of personality (read “Super-Mario,“ “Effe,“ or “Toppi“) or by more rarified achievement that stands the test of time. As such, Gerd Müller will forever be “Der Bomber“ just as Franz Beckenbauer will always be the “Kaiser“ that Germany no longer has. If 20-year-old Köln striker Lukas Podolski lives up to his enormous potential, his current press alias, “Prinz Poldi“ will have to be discarded in favour of something even more imperious.
Born in Poland, young Lukas began his personal football journey at the tender age of six when he joined boys’ team Jugend Bergheim. Four years later three-time German champions Köln, one of the country’s most traditional clubs, snapped up the boy Podolski and began to nurture what was fast-becoming a precocious talent. His progress continued and accelerated to the extent that he was a first-team player in the club’s top-flight side by 2003.
Even so, his explosion onto the Bundesliga stage was startling. 10 goals in 19 games in a side that scored only 32 on its way to a rock-bottom Bundesliga finish was a remarkable achievement that senior strikers would have been proud of. That Podolski managed the feat at just 18 tells its own story. Despite the short-comings of his team-mates, Poldi as the fans and press liked to call him, scored tap-ins and screamers from all angles. No finsh was too difficult or too simple for him. Bundestrainer Rudi Völler included the tyro in his Euro 2004 squad, and he made a late appearance as substitute in Germany’s ill-fated clash with the Czech Republic, almost turning the game in his country’s favour. Beloved by Köln fans, Podolski was immediately courted by AS Monaco and Bayern Munich, but decided to remain faithful to the club where he had spent the previous eight years.
In a world of corrupt club chairman spinning lies to loyal supporters, spiv agents whispering in ears while looking after number one, and badge-kissing superstar brats milking fan adulation while dreaming of pastures new, his decision breathed welcome fresh air into a noxious environment where an 18-year-old Wayne Rooney was implored to move on by club, agent, and press for reasons that had more to do with craven self-interest than footballing, and indeed, personal development. In biding his time, Podolski paid something back to the fans of the club that had reared him. By dropping to the second division, he shouldered the effort on which their rebirth could be inspired. 24 goals later, Köln were zweite liga champions and back in the big time. He was loved for it – and rightly so.
Strong, well-built, mobile, and skilful, his greatest attribute is perhaps his fearlessness. His quick and easy acclimatisation to international football has confirmed the feelings of those who saw him make his great Bundesliga breakthrough at 18. Turning 21 just before the World Cup finals kick-off in Munich, Prinz Poldi is a certainty to start up front for a country with a rich tradition of great centre-forwards. Seven goals in his first 13 matches tell their own story. A thunderbolt shot makes him lethal in front of goal. Mental toughness gives him the final ingredient for greatness.
A flourishing friendship with Bayern’s Bastian Schweinsteiger provides the bedrock for a footballing partnership that is crucial to Germany’s World Cup hopes next year. It’s already clear that without the dynamic duo, Jürgen Klinsmann’s side lacks creativity, spark, and youthful exuberance. Whatever next summer’s outcome, Podolski is likely to be reunited with Schweinsteiger at club level with Bayern openly covetous of the forward. When he does depart, it will be a sad day for Köln and a melancholic time for those who hark back to the days when football was not the preserve of the megaclubs and talents like his could flourish in even the most modest of teams . Regardless, nobody will be able to accuse Podolski of betrayal. Like everything else in his career so far, he has succeeded with a grace and ease that belies his years.
Brian A. O’Driscoll, Berlin
Originally posted at Goal.com: 06/09/2005 16:10
Retrieved from: http://web.archive.org/web/20060321031035/www.goal.com/en/articolo.aspx?contenutoid=-1073725345
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