“Ball Boy” Muller out on a mission
There are mistakes in one’s life that a person later goes on to regret. In football these mistakes are more common; a miss-timed tackle leading to a penalty can be a crucial mistake, a goalkeeper’s fumble (Robert Green), a miss hit penalty (Roberto Baggio at U.S.A ’94) etc. All of these mistakes are quite frequent in football but one hardly observes someone regretting something he said, maybe that’s because football tends to be more about what goes on the field rather than what goes off it.
However, football has changed, players and their behavior is changed and times as they were have changed. This change means that off-the field incidents now actually do matter, they contribute to a team’s psyche and their approach to a game. Off the field problems as we saw with France, can result in conflicts on the field.
Thomas Mueller, the German striker was little known before the previous football season. He played for Bayern Munich in the 2009-2010 league season and won the German league with them. He played for them in the final of the UEFA Champions League and lost to Inter Milan. He also played for them in the DFB Cup which they won. After such a successful season, Mueller has almost turned into a house hold name.
The 20 year old Mueller further gained acclaim after his sparkling performance against Fabio Capello’s England, a game in which he scored two of Germany’s four goals and assisted one. After such an eventful year for Mueller in terms of football, it will be hard for clubs to keep their hands off him come the end of this World Cup.
In March, Argentina coached by Maradona played Germany in a friendly match at Allianz Arena in Munich. The match ended in a one nil defeat for the Germans. Both of these teams meet again in the quarterfinal of the FIFA World Cup in South Africa. It feels as though for Mueller this meeting was meant to happen, it was as if it was written in the stars. Back in March when Germany lost their friendly match against Argentina Mueller appeared for them in the post match press conference as a symbol of their young squad.
On behalf of Argentina, it was their manager Diego Maradona who attended the conference. The star of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico who led Argentina to World Cup glory, Maradona is held in very high esteem by football fans around the world for his accomplishments as a player. He is widely regarded by many as the most talented footballer ever to grace the sport.
When Mueller and Maradona met each other at the press conference, Mueller was a little known player and Maradona joked to the press that he thought that a “ball boy” had come to the press conference. Maradona in his comic style again threw a tantrum and walked out of the press conference because he didn’t want to share the spot light with a “ball boy”.
Mueller who is still a young lad at 20 was greatly offended by this and held it within his heart to prove to Maradona that he was not just a “ball boy” but a proper footballer. In his interview before the quarter final match in Cape Town on Saturday, Mueller states that a lot has changed since that match in Munich and rightly so.
He also goes on to say that he is far too young to remember Maradona as a player but also tells that he saw the Argentinean maestro play in Lothar Matthaeus’s testimonial game in the year 2000 and was highly impressed with Maradona’s skill on the ball.
Mueller also remembers the Argentina vs. Germany quarterfinal match in the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany. He says “"I remember us winning through sheer willpower and I haven't forgotten the scenes after” as he refers to the after match skirmishes that took place between both the teams after the penalty shootout was won by the Germans.
Mueller also shows his lighter side as he suggests that Germany won’t mind an after match skirmish this time around as well. Mueller and the rest of Germany are all geared up to take on Argentina on Saturday. With a young squad and a hunger to win, Germany cannot be written off completely especially after they brilliant performance against the English in the round of sixteen.
There are some mistakes people regret in life; maybe Maradona’s next mistake to regret will be referring to Mueller as the “ball boy”? After all Mueller shares his name and his shirt number “13” with the German legendary striker Gerd Mueller who had a knack of scoring crucial goals in important games.
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