The retirement of a good German.

Call me nostalgic, but the retirement of Oliver Neuville signals the nearing of the end for the German side that faced off against Brazil, Italy, Portugal, and Spanish sides. There are now younger generations hard at work as the world found in the 2010 World Cup. Now a former Germany striker following the termination of his contract by Arminia Bielefeld, Neuville was essentially forced into retirement at the age of 37. Scorer of 10 goals in 69 international matches, Neuville played across 3 nations in his time as a player including stints at Swiss club Servette FC, Spain's CD Tenerife who he helped to the UEFA Cup semi-finals; before moving to Germany and playing first at Hansa Rostock. While there he scored 22 goals while making 50 appearances between 1997 and 1999. Neuville then moved to Bayer Leverkusen where he scored 42 goals between 1999 and 2004. Neuville then moved to  Borussia Mönchengladbach and scored another 42 goals in the six years from 2004 to 2010. His lowest moment was a hand-ball goal against 1. FC Kaiserslautern in 2004 but nonetheless I really respect the man. True, he was one of the few known smokers on the German national team which included Bernd Schneider but that doesn't take away from the fact that he was a gift to almost any team he played for and his contributions will be missed: He won the Swiss league in 1993-94, was runners-up in the Bundeliga in the 1999/2000 season as well as the 2001/2002 season, a runner-up in the Champions League in 2001-2002 with Bayer Leverkusen, and won the Second Bundesliga title with Borussia Mönchengladbach in the 2007-08 year. Internationally Neuville was part of German teams which were runners-up in the 2002 World Cup, third place finishers in the 2005 Confederations Cup, third place finishers in the 2006 edition of the World Cup, and were runners-up in the European Championship of 2008. Thank you for all the years Oliver Neuville! Enjoy your retirement!