Good Player Guide #15 – Mario Goetze

Mario Götze
(Borussia Dortmund / Germany)

They say that good things come to those who wait. For German football fans, that certainly seems to be the case, as they sit back and enjoy the fruits of the DFB’s plan for long-term youth development implemented at the turn of the millennium. After Mesut Ozil and Thomas Mueller wowed audiences at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, a young professor’s son from Dortmund is waiting in the wings to upstage them in 2011.

With a place in the German senior squad already in the bag, and a Bundesliga winner’s medal likely to follow in May, 2010-11 has been quite a season for Mario Goetze thus far. Borussia Dortmund have, to all intents and purposes, steam-rollered their Bundesliga competition this season, and Goetze has been right at the heart of it. A string of classy attacking midfield performances have bamboozled opposition defences, attracted the most lavish of praise from German football’s most respected figures and made him Germany’s seventh youngest debutant of all time.

It has been a story of upward trajectory since Goetze moved to Dortmund in 1998, when his father secured a professorship at the city’s Technical University. After 3 years playing for local side FC Eintracht Hombruch, he was spotted by Borussia scouts and integrated into a youth system that has gained a reputation as one of, if not the, best in Germany.

Goetze’s performances in the youth teams of Peter Hyballa and Peter Wazinski soon earned him recognition at home and internationally. He won two Fritz-Walter Medals, awarded annually to the top German players in the U17, U18 and U19 age groups, and starred in Germany’s 2009 U17 Euro Championship win on home soil, turning in a number of impressive displays that helped propel his team to the title.

Back at home Dortmund boss Juergen Klopp was eager to get him into the first team. “From the first time I saw him,” Klopp said, “I was just counting the days until I could promote him to the senior squad without acting irresponsibly.”

Unfortunately 2009-10 was a little bit too early for the bespectacled tactician to get his wish. A series of growth-related fitness issues limited the youngster to a handful of brief substitute appearances, and it was not until the 2010 pre-season that Goetze was able to convince Klopp he was worth a starting place. After starting Dortmund’s first game of the 2010-11 season at home to Bayer Leverkusen, the young playmaker has not looked back.

Operating in the attacking midfield three in Dortmund’s 4-2-3-1 system, Goetze’s supreme talent has made the watching audience sit up and take notice. Matthias Sammer, responsible for the German youth set-up, described him as “one of the greatest talents we’ve ever had”, whilst Bundestrainer Joachim Loew was equally effusive. “… It’s fun watching him play.” Loew said on awarding Goetze his 2nd senior international call-up for this week’s encounter with Italy. “He could definitely become a great player.”

Watching Goetze in action, it is difficult to disagree with Sammer and Loew’s assessments. The diminutive attacking midfielder is blessed with a near-perfect technique that allows him to bring the ball under control in tight areas and beat markers with ease.  He combines that technical skill with a game-intelligence that belies his age, enabling him to find space and always pick the right pass in the final third. If that wasn’t enough, he is also a cool finisher. Quite simply, when he gets the ball in the opposition half, he makes things happen, as his season tally of 4 goals and 7 assists would testify.

What also strikes you about Goetze is his burgeoning mental strength. His best performances this season have come in victories away to Mainz in October and Leverkusen in January. Both were crunch top two clashes at the time, and both games saw him fearlessly rip his opponents to shreds with a series of dribbles, flicks, deft through balls and well-taken goals. In the latter match, Klopp substituted the youngster simply for being “too good.”

To search for weaknesses in Goetze’s game is to clutch at straws. If there are any, they are more physical than technical. At 5 foot 7 inches, he is never likely to win his fair share of aerial battles, and he is slight of build. But even his supposed weaknesses can be countered. His first senior goal was a header and his upper-body strength belies his diminutive stature.

With the hype surrounding him, there is obviously a danger that he could get carried away and disappear into his own posterior, but on that count also, the risk appears low.  Coming across as a humble and grounded type, Goetze shuns the party lifestyle, “it doesn’t fit well with football” he says, and he is surrounded by people concerned more with his development than gaining financially from his talents. BvB youth co-ordinator Lars Ricken, a man with first-hand experience of the pressures of being a hyped-up wonderkid, has made every effort to wrap Goetze in cotton wool and build him up gradually.

Even Goetze’s agent Volker Struth was happy for him to spurn lucrative offers from abroad to extend his Dortmund contract until 2014. “We think it’s best for the boy,” said Struth. “He is only 18 years old and lives with his parents a few miles from the stadium. His departure is almost impossible.”

All the ingredients seem to be in place for Mario Goetze to go on and enjoy a glittering career. Now, the onus is on him to stay fit and make it happen.

Borussia Dortmund, German Bundesliga, German Football, Germany, Good Player Guide, Juergen Klopp, Lars Ricken, Mario Goetze