00:04It takes a world-class player like Lothar Matthäus to play week in week out from the age of 18
00:09all the way to 39 and to amass 21 years at football's highest level.
00:17It's tough to determine the length of the average footballer's career. Many start their journey in the youth ranks before
00:24abandoning the path by about age 22.
00:29Of those who play on into their mid-20s, their careers could last up to 15 years. Some have been
00:34known to play into their 40s.
00:38Like that other big sporting event, the World Cup is held once every four years.
00:45So a healthy 10 to 12-year career at the highest level is usually only enough to play two or
00:50three World Cups.
00:53There are some who have played in four, but only six players have ever played in five.
00:59That includes Matthäus, who left France 98 as the World Cup appearance record holder.
01:06With a record of eight league titles and 14 cup competition wins, plus his two international trophies, his career could
01:13be considered an impressive feat based on those numbers alone.
01:18Add 28 personal awards and honors, it's clear just how big his presence on the field was.
01:27In his autobiography, Diego Maradona gave Matthäus the biggest compliment he could give another player, saying,
01:33Lothar was the best rival I had in my whole career, while Pele branded the German one of the best
01:40that football has ever seen.
01:43But the unfortunate reality is that Matthäus' outspoken personality caused feuds with quite a number of colleagues.
01:52Most notably, Lothar butted heads with German national team captain Jürgen Klinsmann and head coach Bertie Foltz,
01:59which saw him removed from the squad for the 1996 Euros that Germany went on to win.
02:061994 was supposed to be the sweepers' last international outing, but against all odds,
02:12he turned up at France 98 as a replacement for the injured sweeper Matthias Sama, another great from that generation.
02:20Matthäus came on as a substitute against Yugoslavia to set a new record for the tournament with his 22nd appearance.
02:28He would go on to play in all of Germany's matches that followed, with Croatia knocking them out at the
02:33quarter-finals.
02:34Staking his record for the most matches played at the World Cup at 25.
02:41It took a player of the stature of Lionel Messi to overhaul Matthias' mark,
02:46notching appearance 26 in the perfect fashion, leading Argentina to World Cup final glory.
02:55It's a testament to Matthias' consistency and longevity that even Messi had to work hard to overhaul it.
03:04A relentless and fierce competitor, Lothar Matthias' story is the World Cup's story.
03:10And even without the game's record, nothing can change his brilliant legacy.
03:14錢全달何 nghĩa
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03:14The...
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