By Oliver Trust
BERLIN, June 14 (Xinhua) -- A heart-melting smile follows as Sami Khedira is talking about the meaning of success. "Success starts in your head," the German defensive midfielder says.
There are few players in the 32 World Cup squads in Brazil that can talk with such credibility about the topic. Shortly before Germany's 2014 World Cup opener on Monday against Portugal, Khedira was not talking about goals and trophies, but about his personal "World-Cup miracle" which took place long before kick-off.
TEARS IN HOSPITAL
Seven months ago on November 15, 2013 his father Lazar was pushing his son on a wheelchair along the corridor of a Milan hospital with tears in his eyes. All his dreams of being a part of the World Cup in a football-loving country like Brazil were galaxies away for 27-year-old Sami as a serious knee injury in a friendly against Italy left him side-lined.
But Khedira junior didn't see things to be that hopeless that the time. He took his phone, called his doctor and physiotherapists to start the race right away.
"At about the same moment, I thought about what I had to do to get back in time," Khedira remembers. A few hours later his operation in Germany was done and dusted. Over the next month the German-Tunisian midfielder posted even the smallest piece of progress to Germany's coach Joachim Loew.
FIRST WORLD CUP HERO
Six months after injury, Khedira was back on pitch playing for his club Real Madrid in the Champions League final. Sure, for 56 minutes only, but it was the clear signal to all - Khedira would soon be reporting for duty in Germany's team too. "He's my first World Cup hero", wrote his German teammate Mesut Oezil on twitter.
Nobody today can reliably predict how long Khedira's fitness will last in a long major tournament like the World Cup. But the confidence in his will to fight must have been sky high from the beginning. Loew said Khedira would be the only injured player that would get time to recover up to the point of the German squad being named. Now Khedira exactly fulfills Loew's demands as he is obviously blessed with tons of perseverance, determination and stirring optimism.
WORKER AMONG GENIUSES
Loew sees a soul-mate in the man, who came with the confidence of a smashing Champions League win to "Campo Bahia" , the German World Cup headquarter. Khedira fits perfect into Loews plans, not to play a stirring offensive style at all times anymore. Khedira is the worker among the group of German genius youngsters. No other player is as focused as he is. A quick look back tells you why Khedira is like that.
Khedira's father remembers his son's tears after a training session at his home-club VfB Stuttgart. Stuttgart born Sami spoiled a decisive pass in the box. "He sat in our car and cried on the way home," Lazar Khedira says. Sami Khedira remembers his father never being satisfied: "When I scored two goals, he said, why didn't you score a third one." No doubt, Khedira learnt to fight. As a son of a migrant he had the feeling he had to - maybe much more than many other Stuttgart teammates.
STRONG FAMILY BACKGROUND
The family was his basement. His youngest brother Rani plays for the Bundesliga-club VfB Stuttgart, Denny looks after Sami's media-work. For years the three used to play in front of a neighborhood car-garage and were chased away when too noisy. There is not a single day they don't talk on the phone. While fighting for his comeback Sami Khedira started secret training sessions back home in Stuttgart, telling his Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti about every move. "My doggedness was the key, it helped me to get to the top," Sami says.
Not only Loew is deeply impressed. Real coach Ancelotti quickly told public to keep Khedira in Madrid no matter what offers would pop up as London based Arsenal was targeting Khedira recently. "Sami has an outstanding position in the team, even when he is not on the pitch," Loew points out, knowing, to beat a determined side as Portugal, he needs Khedira's wide spread know-how and experience.
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