View Full Version : Steffen Hofmann
Mattbro
05 Dec 2004, 07:48 AM
I'm wondering what you think of this:
http://www.kurier.at/sport/818898.php
I guess I'm posting this here because a lot more people frequent this forum than the Austria/Switzerland boards. The gist of it is, Steffen Hofmann was brought to Rapid from the Bayern amateurs a couple of years ago by Matthäus. His career took off here and he was just named player of the year in Austria. He married an Austrian woman and there was talk of his taking Austrian citizenship and playing for Austria, but his recent form has earned him a look from Klinsmann and Löw.
If I'm Hofmann and I'm using logic as the deciding factor, I choose Austria. He is almost guaranteed to be a fixture in the national team and to participate in at least one big tournament (Euro 2008). Whereas if he chooses Germany he will have a damn hard time cracking the lineup on any kind of regular basis. But I can appreciate that Germany may be where his heart is, and he grew up dreaming of playing for the German national team.
Further complicating matters is that he will almost definitely be leaving Rapid at the end of the season, most likely for the German BL. So even if he were to choose Austria, he would be flying in from somewhere in Germany to play for them, which is kind of a mercenary situation.
If I had to guess, I would say he will choose Germany, get a game or maybe two with the national team and that will be it for his international career. Obviously if the German national team coach is intersted in you, that gives you pause. But they are not really guaranteeing him anything other than a tryout, and even that is making him think long and hard.
Alex_K
05 Dec 2004, 08:02 AM
Does anybody still remember Zoltan Sebescen?
Mattbro
05 Dec 2004, 08:04 AM
Excellent question! What happened to that guy?
More on Hofmann:
http://www.kurier.at/sport/818874.php
http://www.kurier.at/sport/818880.php
http://www.kurier.at/sport/818871.php
http://www.kurier.at/sport/819079.php
Alex_K
05 Dec 2004, 08:11 AM
Excellent question! What happened to that guy?
To be fair, he had a serious injury after his move to Leverkusen. I am not sure if he has ended his career already or if he just hasn't found a new club. But his career in the national team was probably one of the shortest ever.
Mattbro
05 Dec 2004, 08:18 AM
To be fair, he had a serious injury after his move to Leverkusen. I am not sure if he has ended his career already or if he just hasn't found a new club. But his career in the national team was probably one of the shortest ever.
Who was national team coach at that time? I remember Erich Ribbeck being responsible for a lot of people's extremely short national team careers!
Alex_K
05 Dec 2004, 08:32 AM
Ribbeck, of course :D. Even if Sebescen was a Wolfsburg player, i felt sorry for the poor guy. This was like tossing a child in a pit full of hungry dogs to fight for the meat (guess the movie reference :D).
Mattbro
05 Dec 2004, 08:39 AM
This was like tossing a child in a pit full of hungry dogs to fight for the meat (guess the movie reference :D).
Ummmm......... I'm stumped!
Sebescen had some good games for Wolfsburg and Leverkusen. I mean, I'm not expert on who's national team material and who isn't, but I thought he earned himself a look with some good performances.
Alex_K
05 Dec 2004, 08:49 AM
Ummmm......... I'm stumped!
Sebescen had some good games for Wolfsburg and Leverkusen. I mean, I'm not expert on who's national team material and who isn't, but I thought he earned himself a look with some good performances.
He was called up after his 7th Bundesliga game and got killed by the press after the game. From a ZDF article i found with a quick google search:
Insgesamt 34-mal standen sich die beiden Fußball-Großmächte gegenüber, 13 Spiele gewann Deutschland, 9 die Niederlande. "Oranje" entschied das letzte Duell am 23. Februar 2000 in Amsterdam mit 2:1 für sich und schüttelte verwundert den Kopf über einen Debütanten namens Zoltan Sebescen.
Der damalige Wolfsburger und heutige Leverkusener gab sich, allerdings nicht auf der im Verein gewohnten Position, in seinem ersten und bis heute auch letzten Länderspiel für Deutschland im Duell mit Boudewijn Zenden der Lächerlichkeit preis.
Mattbro
05 Dec 2004, 09:38 AM
So Sebescen only has one cap? I could have sworn he had played with the national team more than once. Maybe after that article was published?
Plus that article seems to imply that he was forced to play in a position he wasn't used to. And if I remember correctly, he had some very big games for Wolfsburg before getting called up, so it wasn't completely out of the blue. Still though, seven games isn't much, so maybe he would have been better off if he'd gotten his first crack at the national team after a little more BL experience.
Alex_K
05 Dec 2004, 09:47 AM
So Sebescen only has one cap? I could have sworn he had played with the national team more than once. Maybe after that article was published?
Plus that article seems to imply that he was forced to play in a position he wasn't used to. And if I remember correctly, he had some very big games for Wolfsburg before getting called up, so it wasn't completely out of the blue. Still though, seven games isn't much, so maybe he would have been better off if he'd gotten his first crack at the national team after a little more BL experience.
No, this was his only cap (although he played for the A2 team, but this doesn't really count). A young player with very few 1st Division games suddenly starts in an away game in the Netherlands on a position he isn't used too. Like i said, Ribbeck threw him in the pit ;).
Vfbstuttgartfan
05 Dec 2004, 09:57 AM
Does anybody still remember Zoltan Sebescen?
I have no sympathy for him. The guy was Hungarian(like me), not german. If he had played for the country that he was actually a part of, instead of going for the better nation, this may never have happened to him. He deserved what he got.
Vfbstuttgartfan
05 Dec 2004, 10:04 AM
And he was a Stuttgarter Kickers player
:mad: .
He was with Leverkusen until this summer. He is without a team right now.
Mattbro
05 Dec 2004, 10:11 AM
I dunno, his German was pretty damned good if I remember correctly. I'd certainly consider him to be more German than Oliver Neuville. If he grew up in Germany, then I think it's fair to say he's a German player, as that's where he learned and developed as a player.
Of course, if he had the opportunity to play for Hungary (which he probably did) you could call him stupid for not taking it and being assured of a long international career.
Alex_K
05 Dec 2004, 10:48 AM
According to what i just read, he already attended Kindergarten in Germany.
I have no sympathy for him. The guy was Hungarian(like me), not german. If he had played for the country that he was actually a part of, instead of going for the better nation, this may never have happened to him. He deserved what he got.
Stupid
Alex_K
31 Dec 2004, 09:46 AM
A little update on Zoltan Sebescen:
http://www.kicker.de/content/news/artikel.asp?folder=3100&object=308850&liga=1&saison=2004/05&spieltag=17&gruppe=13243