Marco Reus, the footballer 'without a pig'

Schwein haben is a German expression that literally means "to have a pig", that is, to be lucky.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
10 November 2022 Thursday 11:32
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Marco Reus, the footballer 'without a pig'

Schwein haben is a German expression that literally means "to have a pig", that is, to be lucky. Hence, every New Year the Germans have the habit of giving each other marzipan pigs as a good fortune charm. But good old Marco Reus (Dortmund, 33 years old) should never have been given any pig-shaped candy on January 1, at least in the last 12 years, when he began his persistent bad luck.

Otherwise, so much continued bad luck for the Borussia Dortmund striker and the Mannschaft cannot be explained. Well, from the German team, rather little. Only 48 games in 11 seasons has the Rhenish winger played since he made his debut in 2011. His international caps will remain in that number, because Reus misses the World Cup in Qatar, probably the last one he was going to play. One less danger for Spain on the 27th in Doha.

And it is that the jinx of Marco Reus with the German team is recurrent, a phenomenon worthy of study: he has lost, with this World Cup, four of the six major tournaments (World Cups and European Championships) that have been held since 2010, when he was going to debut with the Mannschaft, being, at the age of 20, one of the best promises of German football. He was going to make his debut because when Joachim Löw called him up to make his debut in a friendly against Malta on May 14, 2010, the “dribbling artist from Mönchengladbach” – as Kicker magazine described him – was injured three days earlier with a contracture in the thigh. “I am very disappointed, but I also have to think about my health; It doesn't make sense to go (to the national team) and possibly injure myself even more seriously."

A wise decision that, however, opened his jinx. He finally made his debut with his national team in a friendly against Turkey in October 2011, scored his first goal against Switzerland in May 2012 –in a defeat–, was called up (and played, this time) in Euro 2012, and Löw's hand became a fixture for the national team in the qualifying phase for the 2014 World Cup (5 goals and 3 assists in 6 games)... but 10 days before the debut it was broken in the last friendly against Armenia: injury of the left ankle. Goodbye to his first World Cup, which ended up being won by Germany. Reus saw it on TV.

The misfortune did nothing but increase: next tournament, Eurocopa 2016, low due to pubalgia; After two years of absence with the national team, he did go to the 2018 World Cup in Russia, but Germany fell resoundingly in the first phase; then Euro 2020 was approaching, but the pandemic postponed the tournament to 2021, when Reus was "exhausted" and was not called up. And he arrived at the gates of Qatar'22, his last chance at 33 years old, Hansi Flick was counting on him, but an ankle injury, on September 17 against Schalke, made him resign.

In addition to Reus, Timo Werner is absent, so Flick has had to summon the young strikers Kai Harvetz (23), Youssoufa Moukoko (17) and Karim Adeyemi (20), and recover the veteran Mario Götze (30), after 5 years of absence. On the list there are two players from the League, the Blaugrana Ter Stegen and the Real Madrid player Rüdiger.