Sports The Star: Bastian Schweinsteiger

Monday, August 29, 2011

Bastian Schweinsteiger

Bastian Schweinsteiger (born 1 August 1984 in Kolbermoor, West Germany) is a German footballer who plays as a midfielder for Bayern Munich and the German national team. A right-footed player, he is capable of playing out wide or in a more central role.Schweinsteiger has won many awards in his club and international careers, including five Bundesliga titles, five German Cups, and two League Cups.As of January 2011, he is the Bayern Munich vice-captain to long-time teammate Philipp Lahm.Bastian Schweinsteiger made his international debut in 2004 in a friendly against Hungary.Right after taking part in the U-21's disappointing run at the 2004 European Championships, he was called-up for UEFA Euro 2004. Bayern's number 31 earned rave reviews for his performances in Portugal, showing combative skills and even setting up the opening goal for former Bayern teammate Michael Ballack in Germany's 2–1 loss against the Czech Republic.He scored his first two international goals on 8 June 2005 against Russia and scored his first goal at a major tournament against Tunisia on 18 June 2005 at the Confederations Cup in Germany. He was called-up to the 2006 FIFA World Cup on home soil and shot into prominence at the tournament with his two brilliant long-range strikes in the third place match against Portugal, which won him the Man of the Match award.The match ended 3–1 with the 22-year-old nearly claiming a hat-trick but his deflected free kick was credited as an own-goal to Armando Petit.During Euro 2008 qualifiers, he scored two goals en route to a record 13–0 win over San Marino in San Marino. He scored the third goal in Germany's 4–1 win over Slovakia in Bratislava.At the age of 22, he had already played 41 matches for the German national team, a record for any German player at the time. This record was soon broken, however, by Lukas Podolski who was capped 44 times at the age of 22. At the same age, Lothar Matthäus (the German all-time record holder with 150 caps) had only played 13 times for the German national team. To this day Germany have never lost a game when he has scored.Schweinsteiger lost his place in the starting eleven when manager Joachim Löw moved striker Lukas Podolski to his usual position on the left wing to accommodate the strike partnership of Miroslav Klose and Mario Gómez, and he made two substitute appearances in the group stages. In the second match against Croatia, he was shown a straight red card for reacting to a challenge from Jerko Leko as Germany succumbed to a 2–1 shock defeat. After serving his suspension by missing the game against Austria, he returned to the starting lineup in the quarterfinal against Portugal, as Löw reverted back to the old 4–4–2 formation when Gómez was benched after failing to make an impression. Once again he was instrumental in Germany's 3–2 win, scoring one goal and setting up the other two. He also scored his country's first goal in the 3–2 semifinal victory against Turkey. He captained the team for the first time in a friendly against the United Arab Emirates.