Miro's so Klose to being a great

Instead, Klose seems so unaffected by the fuss surrounding his remarkable four-year rise from terrace fan to amateur hopeful to international saviour, his admirers feel happy to shower him with plaudits. Indeed, even his senior team-mate, Oliver Bierhoff, who's being kept out by the 23-year-old, reckons Klose can handle the hype to win the Golden Boot.

"It's always been my dream to go to the World Cup and play an important role," shrugged Klose after his destruction of the Saudis. "So I'll keep my feet on the ground."

Yet keeping his feet on the ground is what they don't want from him.

Beckenbauer raved about how Klose could leap and head the ball like some new Millennium version of the old England tormentor, Uwe Seeler. On the ground, he's fast and skilful too, not to mention the gymnastic ability which comes in handy for his celebratory back-flips every time he scores. With good looks to boot, he fits the bill for a country which had begun to wonder what had happened to its heroes. Already, top clubs - including a few English suitors apparently - are circling like sharks, prompting a "not for sale" notice from Kaiserslautern.

Before the tournament, there were a few knowing voices which carped that, even having netted eight goals in the 12 internationals he'd played since his debut 15 months ago, this was a tournament too soon for him.

It prompted him to respond after the Saudi game that "I proved them wrong" and the nation could not have been more delighted. Because, if things had turned out differently, the World Cup's hottest new property-could have been playing for Poland against South Korea last night because he was born and lived there until he was eight.

The son of a mother, Barbara, who played handball for Poland and a father, Josef, who played pro football for Auxerre, Klose is proud of his Polish roots but, when they called him up last year, he decided to commit himself to Germany because he felt it was the country which had raised and shaped him. Voller cashed in fast, selecting him for the German squad a month later.

It was the culmination of an astonishing rise. Three years earlier, he'd been cheering on Kaiserslautern from the terraces in between playing for obscureamateur provincial sides. Only a year before, he'd just signed his pro contract with the club.

Now, he's already the veteran of three hat-tricks for Germany, albeit against dismal opposition in Israel, Austria and the Saudis.

"Oh, I have still much to learn," he protested, but Ireland were not the only team in this World Cup now alerted to the dangers posed by a Klose encounter.