Germany captain closes curtain on international career

Germany captain Philipp Lahm, who announced his retirement from international soccer on Friday, is one of the greatest players of his generation.

He is also stepping down at the top of his game, only 30 and just five days after joining an elite club of 20 World Cup winning captains, which puts him on par with Diego Maradona, Franz Beckenbauer and Bobby Moore.

Lahm has not always had an easy career, battling injury and the hierarchy at Bayern Munich.

But Bayern coach Pepe Guardiola has described Lahm as "the most intelligent footballer I have ever managed."

Lahm, who played 113 games in a decade of international duty for Germany, joined Bayern as an 11-year-old.

Starting out, he saw himself as an attacking midfielder in the mould of Mehmet Scholl, a pillar of the Bayern teams of the 1990 and 2000s.

But when the club decided his best place was as a defender, Italian tough guy Paolo Maldini became his hero.

Lahm has since made his name as a fearless but quiet leader, dependable and adaptable on the field.

Nowhere can that be better seen than in the 'Mr 100%' tributes paid by the German media after an inspirational display against Hertha Berlin in a 3-1 win in March.

The victory secured the German title at record speed for Bayern but Lahm carried out a record 134 passes in a league game with 100 percent accuracy.

Lahm said he had been thinking all season about retiring from the national team.

Without giving anything away about his bombshell announcement, Lahm said at the World Cup he realized it would probably be his last and vowed, "I'm going to throw all my energy into the battle".

Lahm said through his agent on Friday that having won the World Cup, "it's the right time for me to leave".

He remains under contract with Bayern, his lifelong club - apart from two seasons on loan, from 2003-05, with VfB Stuttgart - until 2018.

With Bayern, Lahm has won five Bundesliga titles, five German Cups, the German Super Cup twice and the Champions League, European Super Cup and the Club World Cup. He was captain in eight of those triumphs.

DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach praised Lahm as "not only an extraordinary player but also an absolute role model".

Germany's chancellor, Angela Merkel, expressed her "greatest respect" for Lahm's achievements.

At the World Cup, Lahm started the group games in midfield but coach Joachim Loew quickly moved him back to his habitual place at right or leftback.

Even then his adaptability shone through. At one stage, in the stunning 7-1 semifinal win over Brazil, Lahm forced his way into the penalty area, feinted as though about to shoot and passed to Andre Schuerrle for him to score. It was a brilliant playmaker's move.

Lahm has scored five goals for Germany himself. The most important, he said, was a 90th-minute strike in the 2008 European Championship semifinal that secured victory over Turkey.

In the final it was a mistake between Lahm and goalkeeper Jens Lehmann that gave away the Fernando Torres goal that lifted Spain to victory.

Lahm made his debut for the senior side in 2002, but there were so many top defenders and midfielders that he was loaned out to Vfb Stuttgart.

He tore a cruciate ligament in one of his final games for Stuttgart and also suffered a stress fracture of the foot.

But back at Bayern he quickly established himself as the first-choice back, turned down a big money move to Barcelona in 2008 and then quickly became frustrated.

Bayern imposed its then biggest ever disciplinary fine against Lahm in November 2009 for giving a newspaper interview in which he criticized the club's transfer policy and its tactics.

"It could be that my personality had been underrated," he was quoted as saying in a later interview.

"For me it was important to know how Bayern see me. And there were times when I had the impression that my opinion wasn't 100 percent appreciated all the time.

"Now, after several good discussions, I have the feeling of being an important part of the Bayern puzzle. And that was very important to me."

(China Daily 07/20/2014 page11)