Toni Kroos’ greatest matches with the German national team
By Avi Nagar
As Germany got knocked out of EURO 2020, another massive news followed up. The elimination against England in the Round of 16 was Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos’ last game for Germany. Kroos announced his international retirement in an Instagram post on Friday. He stated:
"I’ve played for Germany 106 times. There won’t be another time. I would have dearly wished, and I gave everything again, that there would have been 109 internationals in the end and that this one big title, the European Championship, would have been added at the end. I had made the decision to quit after this tournament for a long time. It had been clear to me for a long time that I would not be available for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Mainly because I want to focus fully on my goals with Real Madrid for the next few years. In addition, from now on I will deliberately allow myself breaks that have not existed as a national player for eleven years. And moreover, as a husband and dad, I would also like to be there for my wife and my three children."
The news comes as a surprise, given that Kroos is only 31 years old, and still is one of the best midfielders in the world.
Toni Kroos made his debut for Germany as a 20-year-old against Argentina in a friendly match on 3 March 2010. He came on as a substitute for Mesut Özil in the 67th minute. This match was the first of 106 national team appearances. Kroos would go on to dictate the German midfield for a decade, meanwhile contributing 17 goals and 19 assists during this time. He had an illustrious career with Die Mannschaft and has won multiple accolades.
Here we look at Toni Kroos’s greatest matches with the German national team.
Germany 2-0 Ukraine, Group Stage, EURO 2016
In the first group stage match of EURO 2016, Germany managed a scrappy victory over Ukraine, largely because Toni Kroos had a wonderful game.
He completely governed the middle of the park and his set piece taking ability came in very useful as he assisted Germany’s first goal. Mustafi headed a delightful ball from Kroos to score in the 19th minute.
Kroos delivered a Man of the match performance, and ended up with the most number of touches, 93.6% passing accuracy, 3 aerial duels won, an astounding 5 key passes, and a superb 9.41 rating according to WhoScored.