German striker Lukas Podolski announced Monday his retirement from worldwide duty for the Mannschaft after appearing 129 times for the World champion and scoring 48 goals.
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Polish-born Podolski, who was part of Germany’s 2014 World Cup-winning squad, paid tribute to his team as well as fans, stating simply that “everything has its time”.
The 2014 World Cup victor announced the news on social media.
Following the news, a number of Podolski’s now former teammates have praised the 31-year-old for his service to Die Mannschaft.
“I told the German coach that starting now I will not play for the national team any longer”, Podolski posted on Instagram. He never played the full 90 minutes but he was fielded when Germany needed more variation in their offensive game.
Overall, Podolski is a player that will be hard to replace, but should the likes of Draxler, Sane and Brandt continue their rise then Germany could prove to be an even more risky side than they were before.
The left-footed strikers three goals earnnt him the FIFA World Cup Best young player award in 2006.
The current crop of Germany players and those on the rise are products of the academy launched in 1998 after Germany’s disastrous 3-0 quarter-final loss to Croatia at that year’s World Cup.
The 27-year-old uploaded a picture of himself alongside Podolski lifting the World Cup.
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Podolski made his 100th appearance for Germany in their third group stage match of the Euro 2012. He made a few appearances but didn’t complete the whole 90 minutes in any of the games. “Everything has its time – and my time with the DFB (German national federation) is over”.
