Let him walk…..

Thomas Nehrmann

Anyhow, the club general manager Andreas Mueller said this: “I am not prepared to deal him a further blow - quite the opposite.” (http://www.sportinglife.com/football/ov erseas/germany/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_ NAME=international_feed/08/10/13/SOCCER_ Ger-Schalke_Kuranyi.html&TEAMHD=germany)

Maybe the absence of Kuranyi on the national team will be a boost to Schalke. That is how I see it. And somehow, what Mueller also said in the same link on Kuranyi stands out: “He simply felt there was a campaign against him.”

Now come to think of it, I kind of saw this coming. Being down in the pecking order in the national team when Klose and Podolski are always more or less guaranteed a start in the starting XI.

I find Jogi Löw’s squad selection highly hypocritical. Publicly he states that names and status don’t count, that he only values current form and performances. Realistically he follows his guidelines whenever he sees fit. Lukas Podolski and Miroslav Klose are doing anything but performing great for Bayern Munich, yet they are consistently Löw’s first choice strikers, whether they have a good game for the national team or not. Admittedly. this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Especially Podolski is consistently repaying Löw’s confidence and trust in him with goals. But that’s the point. Löw believes in those players, but he tries to keep the illusion that everyone else has the same chances as them.

Kuranyi, in his own childish way, simply reacted to that, especially because he really has been treated with anything but trust and confidence by Klinsmann/Löw. He wasn’t in great shape ahead of the World Cup, so not nominating him might be understandable, if there would have been a better alternative. But Klinsmann nominated Mike Hanke - does anyone even remember that he was part of the WC squad? - who performed just as bad if not worse than Kuranyi in the league. Different to Kuranyi he wasn’t even an established player or anything. So Kuranyi had to swallow the pill of not being part of the once in a lifetime chance of a World Cup in his home country. He reacted positively and consistent performances for Schalke earned him a recall to the national team. His goals (especially against the Czech Republic), helped the team qualify for the Euros, yet he would again be at the very end of the pecking order with senior citizens like Oliver Neuville getting more trust and game time than him.

So, why should he be willing to play the same game forever? Especially since it seems to have had quite an impact on his psyche. Otherwise he wouldn’t have overreacted that way. Löw will be happy, because he easily got rid of a player who isn’t and wasn’t a top priority for him anyway. Kuranyi will be happy, because he got rid of this psychological weight on his shoulders. Maybe this will even help him regain his best form for Schalke…