Mesut, 17 - A Short Film (Translated) Supporting Cast: Marcel Schmelzer & Benni Höwedes
In 2006, filmmaker Aljoscha Pause, who made an award-winning film on Zizou and has made many others on issues like homosexuality in the sport, attended the Junior championships in Germany. He wanted to film one of the youngsters for posterity but couldn't decide which, so he asked Jogi Löw and Uli Stielike (who were attending as observers) which of the boys looked like he might manage to become a professional. They didn't know his name, but they pointed out Schalke's number 11...
Translated by jenny_jenkins
Click to view...The Junior German Championships, January 2006...
German National Team coach Jurgen Klinsmann's assistant, Joachim Löw appears on screen. The filmmaker asks if any of these youngsters could appear in South Africa in 2010?
Löw responds that the youth programmes in Germany have hugely improved from what they were a few years ago, that the clubs are doing excellent work, and that lately the German NT has integrated a couple of players from the U21. One can see, from the quality of the youngsters, that it’s possible. He says it is important for Germany to slowly and steadily establish itself at the top, and developing young players is an important part of that.
Uli Stielike is interviewed next. The Germany legend points out “Schalke’s number 11” as a prospect, and notes there are a few players who will soon be eligible (he refers to citizenship, since some of the youngsters are not yet at the point where they have to choose) to play for Germany and he notes these are issues the DFB is alive to.
“You don’t want the same thing happening as did with Nuri Şahin, for example”* asks the filmmaker.
Stielike nods. “Exactly. That could be a similar situation...”
Footage of Mesut Özil and his cleats...
Aljoscha Pause: You are still a Turkish citizen at the moment, you’ll have to apply for German citizenship (note: as a child of Turkish guest-workers, Mesut Özil was not automatically eligible for German citizenship) how is that coming along?
Mesut Özil: At the moment, really good. I think it’ll be another two months and then I'll have a German passport.
Pause: Was it ever an option for you?
Özil: To play for Turkey? I don’t know...maybe later but I want to play for Germany. We’ll have to see.
Footage. Mesut keeps the ball, dribbles and assists against Schalke’s arch-enemies Borussia Dortmund...
Özil: I think I was invited to play (for Germany) against France. I’d like to score a goal...*
Pause: Is that the U19 team?
Özil: No, it’s the U18.
Löw is interviewed again. He notes the boys here are a little too young for the team that year (2006) but maybe for the next one...he says you can learn a lot by watching younger players develop.
Footage again, this time of Mesut Özil reciting Qu’ran verses as his teammates stretch. The scene changes to some clips of his footwork and dribbling against Werder Bremen’s youth team. (Note: a year and a half from now he’ll transfer to Bremen, of course.)
Stielike is interviewed again. He notes that talent is one thing. To establish oneself is quite another thing.
Guido Buchwald is interviewed. He says that the step from 18-20 (he betrays a German bias for older development) is huge and too many don’t realize that they have to be patient and take care of their bodies.
The semi-final game against Werder Bremen goes to penalties. Mesut takes one and scores.* A Bremen player has his penalty saved. Schalke score again and the boys celebrate. Mesut furiously ruffles a teammates hair. There’s more smiling footage before he’s pulled over the barrier, to be followed by a young Benni Höwedes (now a professional at Schalke, also of the German NT).
Löw's interview continues over the footage. He notes it’s important to have a coach who can develop talent properly - not just the physical talent, but the tactical intelligence to play well. To do well a player needs someone who also understands the youngster’s weaknesses, not just his strengths, and who helps him with them.
Footage: Mesut’s first-ever final. A familiar weaving, slaloming run, a return pass and he scores for his team. The announcer says his name. The camera stays on him as another teammate scores. The final whistle goes and the youngsters celebrate.
The documentary returns to the initial footage: of Mesut’s interview in the aftermath.
Özil: It’s a nice feeling, to be first. It was a nice tournament, with lots of good teams. We, Schalke, are first...
Pause: With your goal you are also the “Golden Boot” winner of the tournament with 5 goals. How important is that to you?
Özil: That a nice thing too, but the team is more important. It’s nice to have scored 5 goals. It’s a happy thing.
Pause: Let’s talk about your ambitions for a moment. When do you want to be called up to play for Schalke 04? Do you think you have a chance?
Özil: Oh yeah, definitely. I hope so.
Pause: When do you think?
Özil: End of the season, I think. I’ll manage it.
Credits start to roll. The viewers are informed that this was Mesut Özil’s first-ever interview and that, indeed, he made his Bundesliga Debut only a few months later.*
The after-party: And they call him shy?
_____________________________________________________________
Translation/ed. notes
*They are the same age, but Nuri Şahin (Real Madrid, currently on loan to Borussia Dortmund) developed as a professional much faster than Mesut Özil, who (as we found out later) was not considered physically strong enough to play as a professional by Schalke’s scouts. Şahin, who was the youngest ever Bundesliga Profi, had played for Turkey’s youth teams and, at a very young age, chose Turkey, debuting for them as their youngest ever player. Mesut played for Germany’s youth teams and now plays for Germany.
*Mesut did indeed manage his ambition. He was called up against France and scored, as he hoped, a goal. Here it is.
*Nice penalty, isn’t it? He now takes them for Germany.
gif by andriy_7
*On the day Mesut was called up to Schalke’s first team, he gave what was then billed his “first ever interview” (since this footage was not known to exist). It is hilarious.
An equally hilarious translation is here.
.
.