Miroslav Klose who? At this rate, Thomas Muller will be the one surpassing Ronaldo to become the top scorer in the history of the World Cup, as his hat trick in the 4-0 win for Germany over Portugal seems to be just the beginning for the young Bayern Munich forward.
Muller is the penalty taker which is always very important for someone worried about his goal output. But he is also an excellent player. On a German side that is playing without a natural striker to start off the match, Muller is the one in charge of execution in the box. He might not be as talented as Mesut Ozil and Mario Gotze when it comes to passing and dribbling, but few players in Europe are as complete as Muller is.
Only 24, but already with every title possible at club level, looking to finally pass a certain invisible hurdle Germany have been ramming against for the last eight years despite the often fantastic football they’ve been playing. Muller scored five goals in the previous World Cup to finish as joint top scorer. He is now with eight goals in his World Cup career, and it doesn’t look like Germany are slowing down anytime soon.
Klose, with 14 goals in 19 matches, might find it difficult to move up the rankings considering Joachim Low is now in love with the no-striker formation. He took just one, Klose, to Brazil, and right now it doesn’t look like he’s too inclined to incorporate him in his lineup and plans. Low loves to borrow tactics from what’s being trendy around the world, and when you have such an abundance of attacking midfielders who can also score, it seems only natural to make a formation that makes them play to the best of their ability.
Maybe Muller will hit a drought from now until the end of time but that’s unlikely. A player with positioning, great balance, vision and a nifty finishing touch, not to mention the ability to score in big matches, it seems like it’s going to be very hard stopping the first hat trick scorer of the tournament to at least find himself among the very few who have scored in double figures in the World Cup tournament if not much higher by the time the tournament in Brazil is over.