Germany coach Loew heads to the World Cup with only a single out & out striker, the 36 year old Klose

Those of us who follow football closely, are familiar with the recent tactical prominence of the so called "false 9" made fashionable by the successful coaches such as del Bosque & Guardiola in tactically brilliant & attractive to watch team such as Spain, Barcelona & Bayern Munich, and prominent players such as Totti, Messi, Rooney & Muller.

The basis of the strategy is to play the game without an out & out recognised striker (who used to wear the no 9 shirt in the old days) & instead to use a speedy goal scoring utility midfielder/striker to move around. This causes confusion amongst the two centre backs who do not have a recognised attacker to mark.

Now Germany's coach, Jogi Loew is the latest coach intending on using this system. This is the best way to list the final 23 man "Nationalmannschaft" squad for Brazil 2014:

Goalkeepers: Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Roman Weidenfeller (Borussia Dortmund), Ron-Robert Zieler (Hannover 96)

Defenders: Jerome Boateng (Bayern Munich), Erik Durm (Borussia Dortmund), Kevin Grosskreutz (Borussia Dortmund), Benedikt Howedes (Schalke), Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund), Philip Lahm (Bayern Munich), Per Mertesacker (Arsenal)

Midfielders: Julian Draxler (Schalke), Matthias Ginter (Freiburg), Mario Gotze (Bayern Munich), Sami Khedira (Real Madrid), Christoph Kramer (Borussida Mönchengladbach), Toni Kroos (Bayern Munich), Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich), Mesut Ozil (Arsenal), Lukas Podolski (Arsenal), Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund), Andre Schurrle (Chelsea), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich)

Forward: Miroslav Klose (Lazio)

Following multiple injuries to Mario Gomez and snubbing Stefan Kiessling of Leverkusen, Loew has decided to take the 36 year old World Cup veteran Miroslav Klose to the World Cup as his one & only recognised forward.
Instead, Loew will be relying on the speed, tactical flexibility and goal scoring abilities of Muller, Reus, Goetze & Podolski as his potential "false 9".

It must be pointed out that Klose is not just any striker:
This is his 4th World Cup
He scored 5 goals in 2002, 5 in 2006 & 4 in 2010.
He's therefore currently ranked as equal 2nd highest goal scorer in World Cup history with 14 goals & only needs 2 more goals to become the all time highest goals scorer (at the moment Ronaldo of Brazil with 15 goals holds that title)
He will also need a single goal to break Gerd Muller's legendary 68 goals & become Germany's all time highest goal scorer

BUT, Klose is 36, has suffered from niggling injuries all season at Lazio in Serie A, AND
may struggle to last the full 90 minutes in the climatic conditions of South America

So, whilst all the media attention was on goalkeeper Neuer's injury, Germany's defensive frailties & holding midfield injuries that ruled out Lars Bender & Gundegan & has restricted Schweinsteiger & Khedira, Jogi Loew sprung the biggest surprise when announcing his final 23, by including Klose as his only recognised striker.

Obviously, results will judge this major decision in the next few weeks! But at least on paper, Reus, Muller, Gotze & Podolski have the speed, tactical ability & firepower to beat any defence on their day. 

I still tip Germany to go all the way if they manage to beat Brazil in the semi finals & desperately hope Klose breaks the all time goal scoring record at the World Cup