Mario Gomez was groggy, but he walked tall from the Zentralstadion in Leipzig. The 23-year-old appeared composed as he patiently waited for some time in the interview area. To explain his situation, however, was complicated. “I can’t explain it. I don’t do anything differently. But as soon I get on the pitch, it is like being jinxed”, said Gomez, who is becoming a tragic figure within the German national team.

During the 4-0 (2-0) victory over Liechtenstein in the qualifier for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ he once again experienced a black day, and the cruellest moment came in the 68th minute. When the striker kicked the ball way over the goal, the crowd’s patience became exhausted. “The catcalls were painful. That’s not good, after all they are our fans”, Gomez acknowledged. Almost all his activity until the final whistle was accompanied by hoots. The laughter from the stands when an overhead kick went wrong (53rd), was also humiliating.

After the match he stood motionless on the same spot for some time: “There was emptiness in me. Everything had gone wrong again. Everything is very difficult for me at present”, was how Gomez described his thoughts and feelings. Since a year ago, when he scored two goals in the 4-0 win over Switzerland on March 26, 2008, he has not scored in an international match. The tabloids have been writing about a “goal curse” since the 2008 UEFA European Championship™. He considers himself punished: “I don’t know what I did wrong.” He has been plagued by this mental block for 13 matches, combining 643 minutes on the pitch -- following a good start with the national team when he scored six goals in nine matches. And Liechtenstein seemed just right to boost his confidence again.

“You really wish him to score”, said national coach Joachim Loew, when he chose Gomez in the starting line-up. What makes it really odd is that Gomez is very successful with Stuttgart. He has scored 23 goals, and being credited with seven assists in the 34 matches during the current season with VfB Stuttgart. Despite the crisis that appears to attach itself to him when he pulls on the DFB shirt, he appreciates the support from the team. They act as if this crisis was the most normal thing in the world. “We do not go to his room to console him”, said Thomas Hitzlsperger. “It is important for every striker that he scores, but today that was not really important”, Michael Ballack added. Three more points won and, for the captain, the team’s success eclipsed this individual’s predicament.

Loew explained he neither felt “compassion” nor would he see Gomez as a “tragic case”. The national coach has a dilemma. Should he leave Gomez on the bench in Wales on Wednesday (April 1), which could cause the Spanish-German even more doubts. Or should he go with Leverkusen player Patrick Helmes who hopes to play? There is a clear indication that Loew tends to stick with the currently unlucky player. “Every striker has gone through such a phase, be it Klinsmann, Voeller or me”, said Oliver Bierhoff. The team manager was the last international German striker to be booed by German fans, during the goalless draw with Finland in 2001. “You feel it is becoming a mental thing with Mario”, Bierhoff continued, “and then you foresee that everything could become negative”.

Gomez began to believe during the 2008 UEFA European Championship™, and that can be dangerous for a goalscorer. There was one incident when his failure started to manifest itself. Standing in front of an empty goal against Austria, he failed to push the ball over the line and miskicked high into the air. This incident “was not easy to overcome”, he said. He thought he had overcome the feeling of being unlucky. But the long-term effect is not lessening.

Gomez may recognise Miroslav Klose as an example, however. Klose was in exactly the same situation after the 6-0 win away in Vaduz in September 2008. For Klose, currently injured, Liechtenstein should have been the ideal, confidence-building opponents. But he didn’t score. Four day later, however, the Munich player saved an important point for Germany with the 3-3 draw in Finland.