The German national football team has not had such a classic penalty area striker for a long time. Even in the current squad of national coach Hansi Flick there is no type “breaker”. That could change on the way to Qatar, Simon Terodde can hope very cautiously.
Hansi Flick praised second division top scorer Simon Terodde for his outstanding goal record at promoted FC Schalke 04 and surprisingly gave him a minimal chance of making the national soccer team and taking part in the World Cup. The 34-year-old Terodde had just described international matches for Germany as a personal dream. Age, as Flick had repeatedly emphasized, was not a criterion for him.
“Simon Terodde is a striker who scores a lot of goals – now in the 2nd division,” said Flick during a media round to announce the current international squad. As expected, the veteran Terodde, who scored 30 goals this season for Schalke, does not appear in this. “We will now see how it looks next season, whether he can score goals in the first division,” remarked Flick cautiously.
In the end, what applies to all World Cup candidates applies to him: “If he plays at a top level – that’s the Bundesliga – and performs well there and scores his goals, all doors and gates are open.” Flick emphasized that it was “outstanding how Terodde has scored goals in recent years. He has a good rate.” In 283 appearances in the lower house for Schalke, Hamburger SV, Cologne, Stuttgart, Bochum, Union Berlin and Duisburg, he was successful 172 times.
In a Sport1 interview, Terodde described games with the national team as his “big dream”. Looking towards the controversial World Cup in Qatar at the end of the year, he remarked: “If Hansi Flick should really come to the decision at the end that he needs a striker for Qatar who is up front and scoring goals, then he will also think of me should, then of course I’m ready. But at the moment I’m not thinking too much about it.”
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