2026 FIFA World Cup Countdown: Miroslav Klose Makes History
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2026 FIFA World Cup Countdown: Miroslav Klose Makes History

99 Days To Go: Reliving Miroslav Klose's Moment of History

Young football fans all over the world dream of many things involved with the sport. Winning prestigious trophies, scoring memorable goals and maybe getting the opportunity to represent your country, all whilst earning mind-boggling money.

There has always been an air of prestige surrounding the game, and those who have managed such wild accomplishments are players reaping the rewards brought from years of consistency, hard work, dedication and a sprinkle of luck.

For some players, they will get to live the dream of representing their nation at the World Cup - the single-most electric, unifying tournament on the global footballing calendar. It's an event that dominates the headlines around the world for its month-long duration, and every player worth their salt dreams of plying their trade on the world's very largest stage.

Scoring a goal in this tournament is one thing, but how about netting more goals than any player in history? Well, on the 8th of July in 2014, Germany striker Miroslav Klose would achieve just that with a finish against Brazil, shooting his name to the top of the charts for World Cup goals.

At Football Park, we are marking down 100 of the World Cup's most electrifying moments along with the 100-day countdown towards the first game of the summer of sport. Today, we're looking into a goal that defined a nation's success in the tournament.

Miroslav Klose's Heritage

Miroslav Klose, without a shadow of a doubt, is one of the greatest centre-forwards to have ever graced 'the beautiful game'.

A Polish-born German international, the then 36-year-old was plying his trade at club level for Italian side Lazio, with whom he made more club appearances than for any one of the Bundesliga clubs he had torn defences apart with – Kaiserslautern, Werder Bremen and Bayern Munich.

Starting from the year 2000, Klose had netted 10 or more goals per season in every campaign bar just four, bringing in a haul of 7 major trophies along the way and earning 130 senior Germany caps heading into the 2014 calendar year. But there was one arrow in his quiver that he hadn't been able to quite earn as of yet... a major international trophy with Die Mannschaft. He never won the Champions League either, but that doesn't fit the dramatic narrative I'm trying to spin here.

As Klose headed over to Brazil for the 2014 World Cup, Lord only knows where his head was at before a ball was kicked. The veteran striker was amongst the very best to have ever done it at international level, but had been so cruelly denied international success on so many occasions. This tournament marked 12 years since a 24-year-old Klose had tasted defeat in the 2002 World Cup final. The team that beat him and his German colleagues that day? Host nation: Brazil.

At the next two World Cups – hosting the tournament in Germany in 2006 and heading to South Africa in 2010 – Klose would tot up consecutive semi-final appearances with his nation, being dismissed by the eventual winners of each tournament on each occasion. To beat Klose and the German side of the time, one had to be the very best. Judging from the sides that won the tournament at their cost, this ended up being the quite literal case.

The European Championships had brought no joy either – Germany were defeated once again by Spain in 2008 to once again be left as runners-up to a major trophy, and they were bested at the semi-final stage by Italy in 2012. For Klose, putting the rot to rest and winning major honours with his nation had to have become an obsession.

It wasn't for a lack of trying on his part either. The Lazio star sat only behind Brazil's Ronaldo Nazário in the rankings for the World Cup's all-time top goal-scorer records – the man who scored a brace against Germany in 2002 to break their hearts and earn the trophy for Brazil.

Klose had come too close on far too many occasions to walk away from international duty with nothing. At the age of 36 and with his absolute best days behind him now, the striker stated that the 2014 World Cup was going to be his last act of international duty, no matter the outcome of the tournament – a final, desperate attempt to achieve the honours he had fallen so painfully short of achieving in the past.

Whilst the headlines were dominated by conversations regarding Lionel Messi's chances of winning international gold with Argentina, Miroslav Klose was quietly preparing to give everything that his body still had towards ending decades of German pain and achieve some personal milestones of his own.

The 2014 FIFA World Cup: Klose's Last Stand

The build-up to the 2014 World Cup likely could not have gone better for Klose. Despite the desperation in his mind to finally win something with Germany, the former Bayern Munich star was also staring down the barrel of becoming his country's record goalscorer. In Germany's final pre-tournament friendly against Armenia, Klose netted in the 76th minute of an eventual 6-1 win to overtake the legendary Gerd Müller in Germany's goal scorer standings – a remarkable individual achievement and one that perhaps spurred on the mental motivation in Klose's mind that he required for the coming task at hand.

He had to be patient to get his moment when the World Cup proper got underway. He remained on the bench for their opening fixture, waiting on standby as a Thomas Müller hat-trick helped blow Portugal away in a 4-0 win. It would be the next bout of action for Germany, where a 36-year-old Miroslav Klose would remind the world of his pedigree and, indeed, his intentions for the tournament.

It would take Klose just two minutes of time on the pitch to bring himself level with Ronaldo in the goalscoring charts. After coming onto the field in the 69th minute against Ghana to replace goalscorer Mario Götze and with Germany slipping into a surprise 2-1 defeat at the time, Miroslav Klose did what Miroslav Klose did best.

Just after Asamoah Gyan had blasted Ghana into the lead, a Toni Kroos corner was headed on goal by Benedikt Höwedes and eased into the back of the net by the wily veteran lurking at the back post. Klose's arrival at the World Cup and ascension to parity with Ronaldo himself had taken all but 120 seconds, such was the volume of his stated intentions. This goal also shot Klose into the record books as only the third player in history to find the net at four World Cups.

That equaliser, coupled with another Muller goal to beat the USA 1-0 in their next outing, helped Germany top Group G and set up a clash with Algeria in the Round of 16. After being taken to extra time with the score at 0-0, a 119th-minute finish from Mesut Ozil rendered an Abdelmoumene Djabou finish obsolete and got them through to a titanic battle with France, where Mats Hummels' early finish ended up seeing Die Mannschaft through to the semi-finals to face off with an old foe... Brazil.

This clash, though maybe unknown to the uber-focused Klose at the time, was a history-defining battle in the making. With the defeat over France, Klose became the only player in history to make it to four World Cup semi-final matches. But the definition of history did not stop here for Miroslav.

This was a match that gave Klose a chance to get his revenge on the nation that had broken his heart over a decade ago in the World Cup final of 2002. And if he could find himself on the scoresheet on the evening, he would overtake the man who scored twice in that heart-wrenching affair to take his crown as the competition's best-ever goal scorer.

Ahead of kick-off, Klose was handed only his second start of the tournament so far. It took him just 23 minutes to exact the revenge he had been looking to inflict on Brazil.

22:09 - The Goal That Defined a Career

If we want to get all melodramatic (which we do), there was plenty of poetry to be found in the goal that put Klose in a class of his own as a World Cup goal scorer. After Thomas Müller, who had netted the opener just ten minutes ago, laid off the onrushing Klose in the box, Julio Cesar rushed off his line to smother the veteran's first swipe at goal, denying him the opportunity to put the game to a potential early rest. Once again, just like 12 years ago, it appeared for a fleeting moment that Brazil had once again got the better of Miroslav Klose. Luckily for him, he wasn't reading the script.

Cesar smothered his initial effort but sent it straight back out into the feet of Klose, who steered home a second-time effort into the back of the net, doubling Germany's lead and officially becoming the highest-ever goal scorer in World Cup history. All at the expense of the nation that had crushed his spirit 12 years ago and at the expense of the striker who had played the biggest part in all of it in 2002, all taking place in Brazil itself.

The onslaught didn't stop there for the tournament hosts. That goal on the 23rd minute had made it 2-0 to Germany. By the half-hour mark? Die Mannschaft were leading by five after a Toni Kroos brace and an extra from Sami Khedira. A ten-minute double salvo from André Schürrle in the second half was feebly answered by Oscar with a consolation at the death, but the destruction had been caused and the intentions sent to whomever awaited Germany in the World Cup final, their second one since 2002 and another chance for the country to win a major honour for the first time as a re-united nation.

Miroslav Klose, now installed as the tournament's greatest-ever goal scorer and a man just one game away from achieving his biggest career goal, would start the final against Argentina - they had dismissed the Netherlands in the semi-finals.

Klose, almost knowing that this was his last dance in a Germany shirt, gave absolutely everything in the 88 minutes he played that evening. With over a billion people watching the game from all across the world, the veteran had a shot on target and made a surprising amount of defensive contributions. However, with extra time beckoning, the Germany legend made his way off the pitch for the very last time as an international footballer.

The man who replaced him was one Mario Götze. Klose had replaced him against Ghana, instantly grabbing the goal that pulled him level with Ronaldo in the scoring charts. With Ronaldo's record now as broken as Klose's body, the young blood of Götze came on to fire home a stunning 113th-minute winner, blasting Germany and Klose to a World Cup win and ending decades of pain across the nation of Germany in the process.

Just one month after achieving his career goal, Miroslav Klose announced his international retirement. He may have been Germany's all-time top scorer and the same for the World Cup as a competition, but there was one goal achieved in 2014 that meant more to the Lazio and Bayern legend than any other...

Miroslav Klose was a World Cup champion.

Benji Kosartiyer
Journalist

Louis Wheeldon

Lead Writer and Editor

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