FC Bayern are expected to give a response tonight at 20:00 CET. The German Champions want to make up for their devastating 4-1 loss in Wolfsburg by setting the wrongs right at home to Schalke 04. In order to win, they will have to improve their defence. World Champion Jerome Boateng will be a key player in this game.
Jerome Boateng should be used to hearing other people rave about him by now. “He’s young, quick, great on the ball with both feet, he’s got a great personality and is a team player – he just has it all,” said Bayern München head coach Pep Guardiola.
The World Coach of the Year 2014 Joachim Löw is also a big fan of Boateng’s. “I think he’s great, because his game is incredibly consistent and he knows how to play a pass that can open up the game. Generally, his passing is always really good and he is equally skilled with both feet. That’s what makes a good centre back,” he explained. Comments like these indicate that Boateng comes quite close to being the ideal defender.
“I’ve always been a sore loser”
When Jerome Boateng talks about himself, it seems as if he is far from perfect though. Recently, fifa.com asked Boateng in an interview about aspects of his game that need to be improved. “Everything,” he replied. “Everything? What exactly do you mean by everything,” asked the reporter in disbelief. “Positional play, headers, goalscoring, one-on-one situations,” replied Boateng. However, there is another weakness that Boateng forgot to add. In fact, it is not simply a weakness in his game, but it could be described as a personal flaw. Boateng is not proud of it, but in an interview with GQ magazine, he admitted that it is part of his character. “I hate losing. I’ve always been a sore loser,” he confessed.
It's not really a surprise given that Boateng has never really been able to get used to losing. Prior to their defeat to Wolfsburg, Bayern hadn't lost for 56 straight matches with Boateng in the team. Football may be his designated area of expertise, but Boateng is also a winner elsewhere. For example, the 26-year-old recently topped GQ magazine’s vote for the “Most stylish man in Germany”. The second-placed footballer in this ranking was Bastian Schweinsteiger, who finished seven places behind Boateng. A vote like this is no doubt unlikely to be high up on Boateng’s personal priority list, but it is another indicator that he is a natural winner in many aspects.
Commitment to charity work
Boateng is the kind of person that doesn't always feel comfortable in the centre of attention, but he has learned to cope with that role. The defender is not one to speak up and put himself out there. However, he is always noticed when he does, because he has something important to say. Boateng only commits to a cause when he feels he can fully back it. Boateng is patron of the charity “MitternachtsSport”, which was honoured with the DFB Award for Integration. His project “LIVING A DREAM”, which works with UNESCO, received the “2014 Audi Generation Award”.
He is equally successful both on and off the pitch. However, the focus is on Boateng, the footballer, the World Champion. The player that many thought should have been included in the 2014 FIFA World XI; the player who has won lots of accolades yet still identifies the weaknesses in his game and admits his inability to cope well with defeat as something to work on.
Boateng was able to put that into practice recently as Bayern succumbed to a crushing 4-1 defeat in their first match of 2015. For a sore loser, Boateng offered a relatively good analysis afterwards. “We simply played badly today,” he said. “You can count the tackles we won on one hand. To make sure that another game doesn’t just pass us by, we need to react and redeem ourselves by showing a clear improvement in our next match.”
Boateng congratulates German Super Bowl winner Vollmer
Boateng took his mind off the defeat through sport and a different kind of football. On Monday night he watched Sebastian Vollmer write sporting history in the Super Bowl. After his team, the New England Patriots, defeated the Seattle Seahawks to be crowned "World Champions", Vollmer became the first German to win an NFL title. From one World Champion to another, it didn’t take long for Boateng to congratulate Vollmer on Twitter.
Afterwards, Boateng’s focus returned to football and today’s midweek fixture which has a special meaning for him. When Bayern face Schalke, it is Boateng against Boateng as Jerome pits himself against Kevin-Prince. It is not the first game in which the half brothers will have lined up against one another, nor is it of the highest magnitude considering their respective countries; Germany (Jerome) and Ghana (Kevin-Prince) have already faced each other twice at World Cups. “We are used to it as we never played on the same team when we were younger and, apart from our time at Hertha, never since,” younger brother Jerome told fifa.com.
Succeeding with Bayern is Boateng’s main aim – not defeating his brother. Despite the loss to Wolfsburg, the title pursuit hasn’t been derailed providing that Bayern can reassert their dominance and avoid any further slip-ups. Boateng isn't afraid to make his ambition of securing the treble known. “We are still in every competition and have set our sights high,” he said. “We have the potential and our chances seem good.”
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FC Bayern are expected to give a response tonight at 20:00 CET. The German Champions want to make up for their devastating 4-1 loss in Wolfsburg by setting the wrongs right at home to Schalke 04. In order to win, they will have to improve their defence. World Champion Jerome Boateng will be a key player in this game.
Jerome Boateng should be used to hearing other people rave about him by now. “He’s young, quick, great on the ball with both feet, he’s got a great personality and is a team player – he just has it all,” said Bayern München head coach Pep Guardiola.
The World Coach of the Year 2014 Joachim Löw is also a big fan of Boateng’s. “I think he’s great, because his game is incredibly consistent and he knows how to play a pass that can open up the game. Generally, his passing is always really good and he is equally skilled with both feet. That’s what makes a good centre back,” he explained. Comments like these indicate that Boateng comes quite close to being the ideal defender.
“I’ve always been a sore loser”
When Jerome Boateng talks about himself, it seems as if he is far from perfect though. Recently, fifa.com asked Boateng in an interview about aspects of his game that need to be improved. “Everything,” he replied. “Everything? What exactly do you mean by everything,” asked the reporter in disbelief. “Positional play, headers, goalscoring, one-on-one situations,” replied Boateng. However, there is another weakness that Boateng forgot to add. In fact, it is not simply a weakness in his game, but it could be described as a personal flaw. Boateng is not proud of it, but in an interview with GQ magazine, he admitted that it is part of his character. “I hate losing. I’ve always been a sore loser,” he confessed.
It's not really a surprise given that Boateng has never really been able to get used to losing. Prior to their defeat to Wolfsburg, Bayern hadn't lost for 56 straight matches with Boateng in the team. Football may be his designated area of expertise, but Boateng is also a winner elsewhere. For example, the 26-year-old recently topped GQ magazine’s vote for the “Most stylish man in Germany”. The second-placed footballer in this ranking was Bastian Schweinsteiger, who finished seven places behind Boateng. A vote like this is no doubt unlikely to be high up on Boateng’s personal priority list, but it is another indicator that he is a natural winner in many aspects.
Commitment to charity work
Boateng is the kind of person that doesn't always feel comfortable in the centre of attention, but he has learned to cope with that role. The defender is not one to speak up and put himself out there. However, he is always noticed when he does, because he has something important to say. Boateng only commits to a cause when he feels he can fully back it. Boateng is patron of the charity “MitternachtsSport”, which was honoured with the DFB Award for Integration. His project “LIVING A DREAM”, which works with UNESCO, received the “2014 Audi Generation Award”.
He is equally successful both on and off the pitch. However, the focus is on Boateng, the footballer, the World Champion. The player that many thought should have been included in the 2014 FIFA World XI; the player who has won lots of accolades yet still identifies the weaknesses in his game and admits his inability to cope well with defeat as something to work on.
Boateng was able to put that into practice recently as Bayern succumbed to a crushing 4-1 defeat in their first match of 2015. For a sore loser, Boateng offered a relatively good analysis afterwards. “We simply played badly today,” he said. “You can count the tackles we won on one hand. To make sure that another game doesn’t just pass us by, we need to react and redeem ourselves by showing a clear improvement in our next match.”
Boateng congratulates German Super Bowl winner Vollmer
Boateng took his mind off the defeat through sport and a different kind of football. On Monday night he watched Sebastian Vollmer write sporting history in the Super Bowl. After his team, the New England Patriots, defeated the Seattle Seahawks to be crowned "World Champions", Vollmer became the first German to win an NFL title. From one World Champion to another, it didn’t take long for Boateng to congratulate Vollmer on Twitter.
Afterwards, Boateng’s focus returned to football and today’s midweek fixture which has a special meaning for him. When Bayern face Schalke, it is Boateng against Boateng as Jerome pits himself against Kevin-Prince. It is not the first game in which the half brothers will have lined up against one another, nor is it of the highest magnitude considering their respective countries; Germany (Jerome) and Ghana (Kevin-Prince) have already faced each other twice at World Cups. “We are used to it as we never played on the same team when we were younger and, apart from our time at Hertha, never since,” younger brother Jerome told fifa.com.
Succeeding with Bayern is Boateng’s main aim – not defeating his brother. Despite the loss to Wolfsburg, the title pursuit hasn’t been derailed providing that Bayern can reassert their dominance and avoid any further slip-ups. Boateng isn't afraid to make his ambition of securing the treble known. “We are still in every competition and have set our sights high,” he said. “We have the potential and our chances seem good.”
