Italy's Luca Toni will have extra motivation to score in Sunday's UEFA EURO 2008 quarter-final against Spain as he tries to win a bet with club-mate Miroslav Klose.
The FC Bayern München strikers have a private contest to see who can score the most goals at the tournament, and after the German got off the mark in the 3-2 defeat of Portugal on Thursday, the pressure is on Toni in Vienna. "I scored my goal so now it's up to Luca to equalise," Klose said. "I texted him and he messaged back saying he's having a few problems with his best friend, the ball. He said at the moment it's doing what it wants, not what he wants."
Between them, Toni and Klose claimed 34 Bundesliga goals for Bayern last season so it is surprising that they have struggled to make an impact here, although the latter did create chances for his team-mates in Germany's Group B matches while Toni won the penalty from which Andrea Pirlo fired the Azzurri in front in their pool decider against France.
"The coaches said to me before the Portugal game the EURO had really only just begun and there was a long way to go," said Klose, 31, after notching his 40th goal in 79 internationals. "Things went a lot better for me in that game."
Klose is known for his goalscoring instincts, aerial ability, and unselfish play. His consistency as a goal-scorer in his first Bundesliga season at Kaiserslautern earned him attention.
In January 2001, the then national coach Jerzy Engel of the Polish national team travelled to Germany to persuade Klose to choose playing for Poland. This request was declined by Klose who said that: “I have a German passport, and if things are still running this way, I have a chance to play for Rudi Völler”.
In fact, he soon was capped and made his debut for Germany against Albania on March 24, 2001. Klose came on as a substitute and headed in from close range the winning 2-1 goal two minutes from time.
Miroslav Klose born as Mirosław Marian Klose on June 9, 1978 in Opole, Poland. His father, Josef Klose moved to France in 1978. Then Miroslav and his mother could join him in Kusel, Germany in 1985. Klose's father is from an ethnic German family and thus they were permitted to settle as Aussiedler in West Germany.
In an interview given to Przeglad Sportowy on June 9, 2008, Klose stated that the decision to play for Germany instead of Poland was not an easy one, and if Polish officials had been faster, he would be playing for Poland now. Furthermore, he added that he does not regret the choice, as with Germany he has won medals in the World Cup tournaments.
Source: euro2008.uefa.com
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