“Here’s Gotze. It’s Mario Gotze, it’s Super Mario, he may have just won the World Cup for Germany.”
Everyone remembers where they were when they heard those famous lines and watched Gotze, majestically control Andre Schurrle’s cross on his chest, before guiding an unstoppable volley past Sergio Romero.
It won Germany the World Cup and made Angela Merkel and millions of Germans go crazy.
Unfortunately, the situation now could not be any different.
Both parties involved in that famous goal, Mario Gotze, and Andre Schurrle, who provided the assist, will not be on the plane to Russia.
Unfortunately for Gotze, his career seems to be on a downward trajectory and is slowly losing momentum.
Since resigning for Dortmund last summer for £19.80 million, the 25-year-old has only managed to conjure up two goals and seven assists this season.
The last few seasons have been plagued by injuries, meaning he has now fallen behind Leroy Sane, Julian Draxler, and Leon Goreztka.
His career has not exactly been unsuccessful, after all, he is the winner of a World Cup and he has won the Bundesliga five times.
But how has his career suddenly hit an almighty speed bump?
When he first burst onto the scenes at Borussia Dortmund, he was seen as being the future of German football and the hottest young player in the world.
Teams in La Liga and the Premier League were all circling Borussia Dortmund like vultures, but it was Bayern Munich who stole him from under their noses.
He was Pep Guardiola’s first signing as Bayern Munich manager so he was obviously admired.
However, Gotze was in competition with the likes of Thiago Alcantara and Thomas Muller who all wanted that place in midfield.
The young boy wonder who used to ooze confidence is slowly losing his touch.
He has received criticism from the likes of Michael Ballack, who believes that his career has faltered since scoring that fantastic goal at the Maracana.
While his talent is unquestionable, many also believe that his body language conveys an image of a player who does not want to fight for his place or put himself through brick walls for his team.
He is still young and is yet to hit the so-called peak age of 27-29 where footballers are expected to be at their best.
Only time will tell if his omission from the World Cup squad will be a wake-up call for Gotze.
After all, he is still endearingly referred to as Super Mario.
