Turkish-German football stars
October 5, 2011
It was a grand gesture, precisely because it was no gesture at all. Instead of loudly celebrating his goal, he simply let a brief smile flash across his face and then bowed his head down and jogged to the center line, as if nothing much had happened.
What had happened? Germany's Mesut Özil had steered the ball into the goal, with one of his typically easy, almost playful kicks. But because the goal was against the Turkish national team, his reaction was watched especially closely.
Özil is the son of Turkish immigrants to Germany, but decided, much to the chagrin of the Turkish fans, to play for Germany.
On that evening in October 2010, at Berlin's Olympic Stadium, Turkey had more supporters than Germany - roughly 40,000 of them, mostly Turks living in Germany.
They saw Özil's decision to play for Germany as a betrayal, and they jeered and booed him mercilessly. The star midfielder took it in stride, quietly scoring his goal and avoiding any display of schadenfreude.
Let the ball do the talking
Özil later explained that his "spontaneous decision not to celebrate too much" was "out of respect for my family's country."
This show of reticence won Özil a lot of respect, even among Turkish fans. These days he has the impression that Turks are proud of him, the world-famous soccer player in Madrid with Turkish roots.
"In my experience they do respect me. Many people accept and at the same time respect my decision to play for Germany," said Özil.
Nuri Sahin's career has taken a similar path.. Like Özil, Sahin has a Turkish background and grew up in western Germany; like Özil he showed his tremendous potential early. Both began their careers as teens in the Bundesliga.
But Sahin made a different choice when it came time to choose which country to play for at the national level. He opted not to play for the country where he was born and raised, but rather for the country from which his family comes: Turkey.
He was proud of both sides, he said, the German and the Turkish. "I see myself as a link between the two countries," he said.
The youngest Bundesliga player
In Turkey the midfielder, who also holds German citizenship, is seen as the beginning of a hopefully great new chapter in Turkish football. The way the now 23-year-old led his former team Dortmund to the 20010-11 Bundesliga title has fans and sports pundits waxing lyrical.
He debuted in the Bundesliga at just 16 years and 355 days old, becoming the youngest player in the league's history. Yet even then his game was marked by a maturity and clarity that one rarely sees of a player so young.
His international debut for Turkey was in 2005 against Germany, but that didn't stop him from promptly scoring against the country where he had grown up.
Some worried that his switch to Real Madrid last summer may have come a bit too early in his career, but he has his little doubt of his own ability. And unlike Özil he's open about it.
"I approach this [move to Real Madrid] with great self-confidence," he said. "I've matured into a player who can accomplish something at Real."
Tough start at Real
So far, however, injuries have kept the young star from putting his plans into action. First a ligament strain, and then knee problems have put him out of action.
It's now unlikely that Sahin and Özil will meet in a midfield duel when, on October 7, Germany and Turkey play in a qualifying match for the UEFA European Championship.
In the meantime Sahin is training again and is now hoping to get a chance to premiere for Real Madrid. Given the overabundance of talent on the team, however, it may be difficult for him to find a spot in the regular starting XI.
But that's what they said about Özil, when he first moved from Werder Bremen to the Spanish team.
Özil has showed them all how wrong they were. After the team's unrivaled superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, Özil's name seems to be the first one to go down on the team sheet. He’s looking forward to playing for Germany against Turkey in Istanbul club Galatasaray’s new Türk Telekom Arena.
"It's possible that people will be whistling again," he said, "but that doesn't stress me out."
Author: Joscha Weber / hf
Editor: Michael Lawton