World champion Mario Götze made the difference as the winning goal scorer in the 1-0 win against Werder Bremen – and his young teammates made the difference.
The Players’ Tribune is an online platform, founded in 2014, that gives contemporary athletes the opportunity to tell their own personal story, by themselves and in their own words: “I’ve Got a Story to Tell” is the motto and is written underneath outstanding athletes, such as Brazilian star Adriano, who wrote about his favela and drinking addiction, Manuel Neuer (“Goodbye, Germany”), basketball celebrity Peja Stojakovic, baseball icon Zac Gallen, moving, moving ones Texts on topics that touch the heart, sometimes deeply private. Mario Götze belongs to this select circle; he wrote a long letter to his children in which he let them (and the public) share his fears and feelings about the complicated birth of his eldest son. And also a little bit like it was back in 2014 when he scored that one goal that made Germany world champions and became an almost inhumane burden for him.
Mario Götze still scores goals, less often, but now, more than ten years later, he has scored one, a beautifully combined one, “played top-top,” as coach Dino Toppmöller later clicked his tongue, it should be Eintracht Frankfurt Bring victory and second place in the table. It was a goal on order, his coach had demanded it from him in an eye-catching manner because Götze had already scored in his 300th Bundesliga game weeks ago and his 100th for Eintracht was due on Saturday. So Götze delivered, that’s how the big guys do it.
This is a different Mario Götze than Maracana, he is no longer a glamor boy, no dribbler, no dominator, but a strategist, a spatial interpreter who, thanks to his game intelligence and anticipation, now makes the others look better. Mario Götze has matured in the best sense, also thanks to his role as a father (and the depths he has overcome), as he wrote, he lets others shine in the bright light. He knows how the game works right down to the last details; against Werder Bremen he managed 23 passes into the final third, an impressive figure. In the team of young cheeky badgers he plays maturely, seriously and precisely. “I feel like the grandpa here,” he, 32, said with a mischievous grin in front of TV cameras on Saturday evening.
Master of little things
Mario Götze is the master of small, subtle things, things that are hardly noticeable but are extremely important, he hardly ever loses a ball, you can give him the ball in pressure situations with a clear conscience, with him it is safe. “Mario is good for us,” says Ansgar Knauff, “he gives us support,” adds defender Nnamdi Collins, who started kindergarten when Mario Götze began his stellar career at Borussia Dortmund. He’s not the only one who sometimes looks up to Mario Götze in awe. “We boys can learn a lot from each other.” For example, how to stand correctly and wisely: Götze was centrally in the penalty area once in the entire game, just in the 45th minute, to finish off Hugo Ekitiké’s little stroke of genius to make it 1-0. In any case, surprisingly, it was only his third shot on goal of the season – but the result of two goals has almost marmoush-like dimensions.
Götze uses his scent marks carefully; in any case, he has to manage his strength in the faster-paced games, with his teammates and opponents getting faster and faster, and has to play smarter than those who can run more nimbly but have less feeling in their feet. Mario Götze has developed a remarkable versatility, he even shines on the right wing, as he did on Saturday against Werder, his favorite opponent (eight goals already), or on the six (as in the second half against VfB Stuttgart, when he made an astonishing number of defenses). won duels), of course he is most valuable behind the tips, he sees open spaces that others don’t see, and: He can play the ball there precisely.
Mario Götze long ago discovered the role of football-playing elder statesman in Frankfurt (“a special place for me”). He wrote that he tried to “give the boys orientation” on and off the field and to support them, for example when the wind was blowing harshly.
He’s not doing that at all at the moment, but even now, in Frankfurt’s high flight, Götze urges a sense of proportion, speaks realistically about a “snapshot” and refers to the last close games against Stuttgart or Union Berlin, when centimeter decisions in Frankfurt’s favor contributed to the happy ending . “We know how close it was today.” Bayern hunters, Champions League, even championship – all buzzwords that at best elicit a tired smile from the clever head. “That’s still a very long way to go.” But Götze is ready to take it.
