For his part, Sosa greeted the news humbly. “I cannot complain. My fellow players have always treated me fairly. I just did not use my chances,” he told the club website.

Sosa came to Munich in 2007 for a fee of 6 mil. Euros. He managed just 2 goals and 1 assist in 35 Bundesliga matches over the last 2 1/4 seasons, and undoubtedly the critics will point to him as just another example of Bayern’s poor personnel decisions over the last few years.

But his place in Bayern lore will always be secure, because of one magical moment in Madrid. It was Sosa who delivered the cross to Luca Toni, who headed in Bayern’s third goal in the dying seconds of extra time to earn a 3-3 draw and passage through on the away goals rule, completing the most improbable and emotional of comebacks against Getafe in the UEFA Cup in 2008. Long live the one shining moment of Jose Ernesto Sosa.

The decision seemed to pay dividends in the first half, as there were few real chances for Dynamo. But in the 2nd half, the eastern visitors had two goals disallowed, one off a deserved penalty, which was subsequently rocketed off the cross-bar on the retry. Sene seems to be the only offensive bright spot, and he created a few nice chances for himself, but they were few and far between. The match attendance was 3,350 which may sound pedestrian, but that’s a tremendous turnout for an amateur side, as Werder II or Stuttgart II often struggle to get more than a couple hundred. The boys will need the support: after 4 matches they sit 20th and last in the Dritte Liga on 2 points, buried by their goal differential after last week’s 0-6 shellacking. Next up, a short trip to “neuling” FC Heidenheim. It should be a good chance for the long awaited first win of the season.

Full name: Marcell Jansen
Date of birth: November 4, 1985
Birthplace: Mönchengladbach, West Germany
Nationality: German
Height: 191 cm (6′3″)
Weight: 84 kg (185 lbs)
Club: Bayern München
Position: Left full back / Left wingback
Number: 23
Contract expires: June 2011
Previous clubs: Mönchengladbach >> FC Bayern München (€9m)

Jansen is a very versatile player and the proof of this comes when you look at his young career. While Jansen is not quite 23 years old, he has already made 22 appearances for the German National Team as a left-back. At the club-level he has also played on the left of midfield and left wingback. Coming up through the youth ranks he has also featured as left winger and even striker. Adding to the resume was the UEFA Euro 2008 in which he appeared in injury time as a striker.

Borussia Mönchengladbach
In 1994, Jansen joined Borussia Mönchengladbach from local SV Lürrip in 1994 at which time he was already capped various times for Germany. Mönchengladbach’s former manager Ewald Lienen appointed him to act as a substitute in a Bundesliga fixture of the club against Hannover 96 in September 2003. Jansen was unused and M’gladbach lost 0-2. That game would become Ewald Lienen’s final game in charge of Mönchengladbach and Jansen had to revert to playing for the U-19 team. The start of the 2004-05 season was a lucrative one for Jansen. Manager Horst Köppel granted him senior status, allowing him games with the U-23 team in the fourth German division.

Another change of manager’s came in the form of Dutchman Dick Advocaat. However, this was good news for Jansen as Advocaat quickly started relying on him and he debuted in Mönchengladbach’s first team in an away fixture at Hertha Berlin in December 2004. Although Jansen caused a foul inside the box resulting in a penalty, Advocaat kept faith in him. Jansen’s big opportunity came when Captain Christian Ziege received an injurty that sideined him. This was the opportunity Jansen needed. Shortly after his dismal first team debut, Jansen set out a string of impressive performances that kept Mönchengladbach’s newly signed Belgian international Filip Daems (Ziege’s proposed replacement) off the starting berth on left-back.

Bayern Munich
In the summer of 2006, many inquiries came from various teams, including Barcelona, Arsenal and Hamburg, but Jupp Heynckes refuted all claims, explaining that Jansen wasn’t for sale. Nevertheless, Jansen moved in July 2007 to FC Bayern Munich for a fee of €9 million.

National Team:
While his first season with Borussia Mönchengladbach was a decent one, his second season was full of more success which led to him debuting for Germany’s senior squad on September 3, 2005 against Slovakia. Jansen came on as a half-time sub for Thomas Hitzlsperger. After another season with Borussia M’gladbach, signing a new three year deal and helping them push out any fears of relegation, Jansen was named to the final 2006 World Cup team for Germany. Unfortunately for Jansen, he would only be able to make one appearance in the tournament because Philipp Lahm dominated his position. His appearance came against San Marino when Juergen Klinsmann switched Lahm right-back ahead of kick-off. Jansen would score his first goal in the match. Germany beat San Marino 6-0.

In June 2008, Jansen was selected for the German squad in the UEFA Euro 2008, and wore the number 2 jersey. He came on just after half-time of the final for Philipp Lahm. Germany went on to lose 1-0 to Spain.

Honors:
Bayern; Bundesliga Championship: 2007-2008
Bayern; DFB-Pokal: 2008
Bayern; DFB Ligapokal: 2007
National Team; FIFA Confederations Cup Third Place: 2005
National Team; World Cup Third Place: 2006
National Team; UEFA European Football Championship Runner-up: 2008

Full name: Mirosław Marian Kloze
Date of birth: June 9, 1978
Birthplace: Opole, Poland
Nationality: German / Polish
EU passport: Yes
Height: 182 cm (5′11″)
Weight: 74 kg (163 lbs)
Club: Bayern München
Position: Striker
Number: 18
Contract expires: June 2011
Previous clubs: SG Blaubach-Diedelkopf >> 1. FC Kaiserslautern >> (€5m) SV Werder Bremen >> (€15m) FC Bayern München

Miro is the epitome of the shy, quiet boy that you had your first crush on in grade school. He is the one that you know without a doubt is going to create chances for his team and he will always find a slot to take the ball through. He has some fancy footwork that often leaves others in the wake of his decision on the pitch. The only thing I wish Miro would change is his unselfishness. Sometimes I know he could very easily put the ball into the back of the net, but he often sacrafices his own opportunity to pass the ball to his teammates to give them a chance. While this isn’t necessarily a bad quality, it has left him passing off the ball when he could’ve easily taken the shot and quite possibly scored on his own. He has a big heart, but he needs to learn to be a little more selfish.

When he transferred over to Bayern, I bet Bastian Schweinsteiger was immediately excited until he had a moment to think. Then my guess is his thought was ‘Oh no, now I have competition. Fashion competition.’ Prior to Miro joining Bayern, Bastian was the only fashionista on the block. I bet he had to go through his scarves collection and prune out the ones that were ‘last year’ and make way for all new dressings so that Miro didn’t make him look bad. And if Miro were to have been a fly on the wall, he would’ve laughed in that curious, boyish tee hee sort of way.

Club
Miro played a year with FC Homburg before joining the amateur division of FC Kaiserslautern in 1999. After only sixty-seven games, he had already racked up an impressive thirthy-three goals compared to a disappointing second season in which he only scored seven times. Although it wasn’t a shining moment in that second season, it was enough to generate interest from Werder Bremen and Klose transferred to Bremen in 2004.

Werder Bremen
You could argue that he didn’t get off to a brilliant start at Bremen, but he managed to forge a deadly partnership with both French midfielder Johan Micoud and Croatian forward Ivan Klasnić. The trio made for an impressive, aggressive attacking triangle. In 2004, he scored fifteen Bundesliga goals.

One of the things that often gets overlooked when it comes to Klose is that he is one of the best headers in the Bundesliga. If you put him inside the box, he has a natural killer instinct that teams with excellent technical ability, and is equally lethal with the ball at his feet. In the 2005-2006 season, Klose scored twenty-five goals, the highest of the season, and sixteen assists in a mere twenty-six games.

Bayern Munich
In 2006, it was evident that there was some unrest with Klose at Bremen and rumors about his departure came to fruition. Clubs like Juventis and Barcelona were linked with him, but on June 7, 2007 he confirmed that he’d leave Werder Bremen either before the 07-08 season or immediately following the end of his contract with the club that year.

On June 28, 2007 Miro completed his medical and signed a four year contract with his current club, Bayern Munich. His debut came on August 11, 2007 against Hansa Rostock. He made his mark right away by scoring two goals. He also collected his first hat-trick for the club in a match against Energie Cottbus. Throughout the year, Klose competed with newly signed teammate Luca Toni in a goal scoring spree.

National Team
Much like the start of his club career, Klose kicked off his international career by waving a ‘hey I’m here’ flag. On March 24, 2001 he took to the pitch as a substitute for Germany in a match against Albania and two minutes from time, he headed in the winning goal. Germany won 2-1. Another international highlight came on September 8, 2007, as he captained Germany for the first time and celebrated this honor by scoring both of Germany’s goals in a 2–0 victory over Wales. The next day, one of the headlines on the UEFA website was “Captain Klose Takes Germany Closer (to qualifying).” An interesting bit of information about his role with the national team; the German national team has never lost a game in which Klose has scored. In the 2006 World Cup, he won the Golden Boot.

Did You Know?
He is the first player representing unified Germany to finish as the World Cup’s top scorer, and the only player to have scored five or more goals in consecutive World Cups. One of Miro’s favorite past times is something that use to drive his wife crazy, he would often try to turn the lights off by knocking around a ball with his head, chest and feet.

Honors:
DFB-Ligapokal: 2006; Werder Bremen
Bundesliga Champions: 2007-08; Bayern Munich
DFB-Pokal: 2008; Bayern Munich
DFB-Ligapokal: 2007 Bayern Munich
FIFA World Cup Runner-Up: 2002; National Team
FIFA World Cup Third Place: 2006; National Team
UEFA European Football Championship Runner-up: 2008; National Team
Bundesliga Top Goalscorer (25 goals): 2006
German Footballer of the Year: 2006
World Cup Silver Shoe: 2002
World Cup Golden Shoe: 2006

Other:
Klose is married to wife Sylwia is the father of twins Luan and Noah. He has stated that at homehsi family speaks Polish to one another (something he also does on the pitch with club and national teammate, Lukas Podolski) while his sons learn German in Kindergarten.

And we’ll end it with a video compilation of a pick of 10 goals:

Full name: Mark Peter Gertuda Andreas van Bommel
Date of birth: April 22, 1977
Birthplace: Maasbracht, Netherlands
Nationality: Dutch
EU passport: Yes
Height: 187 cm (6′1″)
Weight: 84 kg (185 lbs)
Club: Bayern München
Position: Defensive Midfielder
Number: 17
Contract expires: June 2009
Previous clubs: Fortuna Sittard > PSV > (free) Barcelona > (€6m) Bayern München

He commands presence when he’s on the pitch. He’s a leader, he pulls his team together. He’s the first one to argue when a foul has been committed against his mates and let’s face it, he is good at taking a foul and initiating them too. When there is a game of importance that he can not attend, like during his suspension last year for the Champions League, he sends the entire team individual inspirational text messages even though he can’t be with them. He is the care-giver of the team and no matter what happens, everyone knows they can count on him. He’s got great air game (which has lead me to dub him the flying dutchman™) and couldn’t play without his tongue of wonder™. Have you noticed how often he sticks his tongue out? He may not be the Captain of the team yet, but he definitely fulfills that role. Whether he wears the ‘C’ or not this year, you can be assured that Mark will continue his on pitch dominance and off pitch guidance. He’s got a style that is unique to him. When new team mates come on board, such as Miroslav Klose, he is the first to take them in and make them feel welcome. Forging a great professional relationship as well as a true friendship. Miroslav Klose has said that Mark was the first person to make him feel welcome at Bayern. He goes the extra distance even when he doesn’t have to. Aggression accompanied by compassion. Not many people can pull that off.

While his on pitch antics haven’t always been favorable, there is no doubt that his passion for the game is something that sometimes carries his emotions to a boiling point. He’s gotten better over the years, but there are still moments when his better judgement takes a vacation and he reacts before he thinks.

Position: Midfield
Midfield general Mark van Bommel is a tremendous talent who complements his consistent displays with trademark goals from distance. There is even training footage of him set up at a distance of 30-40 from goal just launching shots into the net. I wonder if Klinsmann will continue this training regimen for him.

Club
van Bommel developed into arguably the Eredivisie’s foremost midfield player during a seven-year spell at SC Fortuna Sittard, his first professional club, after breaking through at RKVV Maasbracht in his hometown. He moved on to PSV Eindhoven in 1999 and was a league champion in three of his first four seasons. van Bommel enjoyed a superb 2004/05 season, helping PSV to the UEFA Champions League semi-finals and claiming a hat-trick in a victory against AFC Ajax that proved crucial to regaining the Eredivisie crown from the Amsterdam club. Fourteen league goals was a personal best, earning him both the Dutch Player of the Year award and a three-year contract from FC Barcelona having bade farewell to PSV by lifting the Dutch Cup after a 4-0 win against Willem II. More glory followed in Spain as Van Bommel helped Barça to an 18th league title and finally got his hands on the UEFA Champions League trophy. But he was falling out of favour and joined FC Bayern München in August 2006 for a reported €3m on a three-year deal.

van Bommel was signed by PSV in 1999 where he formed a midfield partnership with Swiss international Johann Vogel. He won three Eredivisie titles and two Johan Cruijff Shields with the club. He was also named Dutch Player of the Year in 2001 and 2005.

In his final season with PSV, having assisted the team to the Dutch league title and a Champions League semi-final place, he was expected to join his father-in-law Bert van Marwijk who currently manages the Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund, but van Bommel opted to stay at PSV until the end of the 2004/2005 season.

After the Champions League semi-final loss to AC Milan, he was linked with a move to FC Barcelona, Real Madrid and AC Milan. With the Eredivisie title in PSV’s hands at the end of April, he confirmed he would join FC Barcelona in May 2005 after the Catalonian club captured La Liga.

FC Barcelona

With Frank Rijkaard as his new coach at Barcelona, van Bommel played 24 matches scoring twice in his first season, winning La Liga and the UEFA Champions League with players such as Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto’o and Ludovic Giuly.

FC Bayern Munich
On August 26, 2006 Bayern Munich team manager Uli Hoeneß announced van Bommel would be joining the Bavarian side. Media reports speculated that the move was influenced by the ongoing Owen Hargreaves transfer saga, but Hoeneß insisted the club intended to go forward with both players. Bayern Munich paid $7.7million to Barcelona in the deal.

National team
His debut for the Dutch national team was on October 7, 2000 against Cyprus which was won 4-0. However, for ‘Oranje’, he did not make an appearance in a major tournament until 2006, with the Dutch national team failing to qualify for the 2002 FIFA World Cup and injury preventing him from playing during Euro 2004 in Portugal.

The Dutch national team manager Marco van Basten was dissatisfied with van Bommel’s defensive performance in the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Romania and was subsequently not selected for the rest of the qualification series. With many Dutch football observers believing van Bommel’s international career to be over, he was selected back into the Dutch side for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

In the 2006 World Cup, van Bommel played in all the games for his country except the match against Argentina of which both teams have already, by then, sealed their passage to the knockout stage of the tournament. His position in the team was as right-half. His duties were mainly to play the anchor role in the Dutch 3-man midfield in their usual 4-3-3 formation.

He was the first of many players booked in the second-round match Dutch team defeat against Portugal dubbed ‘The Battle of Nuremberg’ by the press. After the World Cup, Van Bommel was not called up for the Euro 2008 qualifiers versus Luxembourg and Belarus. In September 2006, after his move to Bayern, he was added to Van Basten’s squad to face Bulgaria; however Van Bommel stated (alongside Ruud van Nistelrooy) to no longer intend to play for ‘Oranje’ as long as Van Basten is in charge. Van Bommel has won 40 caps and has scored 7 goals for the Dutch national team.

Did you know?
Having joined Barcelona, van Bommel was taught Spanish in a convent just outside Eindhoven.

Honors:
UEFA Champions League (2006)
Dutch Eredivisie (2000, 2001, 2003, 2005)
Dutch Supercup (2001, 2003)
Dutch KNVB Cup (2005)
Spanish Super Cup (2005, 2006)
Spanish La Liga (2006)
Dutch Talent of the Year (1999)
Dutch Footballer of the Year (2001, 2002)

Other:
He is married to his ex-trainer’s (Bert van Marwijk) daughter.
October 01 2006: Mark van Bommel has told Netherlands coach Marco van Basten that he will not play for the Oranje under the current coaching staff, the Royal Netherlands FA has announced. The good news is that now his father in law has taken over and there might be a chance for us to see him back in the Netherlands line.

If you’d like to check out a good interview with Mark, go on over to the FCB TV Homestory at Youtube.

A short clip of him speaking English because I adore him and his need to think as he speaks.

And just for humor sake; I am not the only one that thinks he’s a sexy bastard

Parts taken from Wikipedia, Interviews, Articles and various stories about Mark.