Mesut Oezil

Johannesburg: A star was born at Soccer City on Wednesday. A 21-year-old German attacking midfielder, who answers to the name of Mesut Oezil, emerged as one of world football’s brightest prospects when his glorious left-footer against Ghana saved the three-time world champions’ Cup campaign.

So stunning was the goal from the Gelsenkirchen native even Germany coach Joachim Loew was left speechless for a couple of seconds. As Oezil sent the Jabulani into the top left corner with a dipping shot, Loew was seen wearing a puzzled look on his face. But the awe made way for euphoria and Loew had joined in the celebrations in a flash.

Oezil still appeared in a daze when he came to collect his Man of the Match award after the match. The media attention he received is usually reserved for top stars and the Werder Bremen youngster didn’t really know how to express his feelings.

“I was lucky… really lucky… I got the winning goal for the team,” was Oezil’s first reaction. “I should have scored in the first half,” Oezil said, referring to a chance he had in the 25th minute. “I really was down when I blew the chance. So, I was more determined to score. I had space in front of me, so I just shot the thing.”

However modestly Oezil might behave, he is definitely the World Cup’s latest hero. So much so that he is already being hailed as Germany’s Lionel Messi. Wary of his powers, England are believed to be chalking out strategies to stop Oezil.

The midfielder himself made things more interesting when he said: “If we bring the kind of effort we showed today (Wednesday), we can beat England as well. That will be a very tough game (against England) because they are stronger than Ghana. But if we put our all into the game, I am positive we will be able to win and proceed further,” Oezil said.

“Our dream is to win the title, that’s the reason we are here. I have no personal goal. We have a team goal and that’s the most important thing.,” Oezil added.

Oezil had a chance to play for Turkey but opted to represent Germany instead. And, although he made his international debut little more than a year ago, Germany’s World Cup hopes, it seems, are heavily dependent on him.

Oezil’s biggest advantage is that he is a technically solid player who loves to create attacks. Against Ghana, he was everywhere — right, left and centre — and was involved in most of their attacks.

Oezil’s sudden rise to stardom has actually created problems for Germany. Loew is desperately trying to keep his new star away from media glare. The fans are calling Oezil the new Messi, Arsenal have suddenly shown an interest in him and all of Germany’s rivals have labelled Oezil as a bigger threat than Miroslav Klose or Lukas Podolski. At the tender age of 21, Oezil is already a key player for a football powerhouse like Germany.

Loew was quick to remind Oezil that he should not get carried away. “He has a long way to go. To be a world class player, he requires a lot of development and needs to be consistent over several years.

“But Mesut, no doubt, has what it takes,” added the coach. “He plays at a very high level. He can win the ball easily and then produce a telling shot. He is a playmaker and can produce defence-splitting passes. He is a player that fits in perfectly with my ideas.”

TEAMS

Germany: Manuel Neuer; Philipp Lahm, Per Mertesacker, Arne Friedrich, Jerome Boateng (Marcell Jansen, 72’), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Toni Kroos, 81’), Sami Khedira, Thomas Mueller (Piotr Trochowski, 67’), Mesut Oezil, Lukas Podolski, Cacau.

Ghana: Richard Kingson; Hans Sarpei, Jonathan Mensah, John Pantsil, Jonathan Mensah, Anthony Annan, Kevin-Prince Boateng, Andre Ayew (Dominic Adiyiah, 90’), Kwadwo Asamoah, Prince Tagoe (Sulley Muntari, 64’), Asamoah Gyan (Matthew Amoah, 81’).

Referee: Carlos Simon (Brazil)