Winning the World Cup is all record-breaker Miroslav Klose wants #IRepEntertain9jarBlog #TwitterTrendBlog via @myentertain9jar

MIROSLAV KLOSE insists becoming the World Cup's all-time leading scorer will mean nothing if Germany fall flat on their face against Argentina.

 

Miroslav Klose scored his record 16th World Cup goal in Germany's semi-final win over Brazil[GETTY]

Klose scrubbed Brazil striker Ronaldo from the record books when he plundered Germany's second goal in their 7-1 semi-final success over the hosts to take his overall tally in the finals to 16 in 23 games.

The Lazio striker has now scored 71 goals in 136 international appearances and, remarkably, Germany have never lost a game in which he has found the target.

But Klose maintains his goalscoring heroics will mean nothing unless Joachim Low's side prevail in the Maracana on Sunday against Argentina.

"It's a hugely emotional thing for me to get the record but people who know me know that my focus is already on Argentina - 100 per-cent," said Klose, who became the first player to appear in four World Cup semi-finals.

"Yes I have overtaken Ronaldo as the best goal-scorer but that is something to take on board another day.

"If we lose the final, my joy as the top-scorer will be significantly dampened.

"I know from 2002 how bad it feels to lose a final. But we are full of confidence that we can win on Sunday."

 

Messi is a fantastic player, one of the best in the world, but so was Ronaldo

Benedikt Hoewedes

Klose will delay a decision on whether to retire from international football until after the tournament and joked: "I don't know if I will retire after the game.

"Unfortunately I still feel fine and think I can move my corpse on for a little while."

And he added: "We enjoyed the game against Brazil but we ticked it off after 24 hours. In the next game, we have to again play to the best of our abilities. It feels really awful to lose a final, so it's our time to win this one."

Germany's third success came in 1990 when they beat Argentina and they have not won an international trophy since triumphing at Euro 96.

Germany are well aware that their job in Brazil is not over, despite their 7-1 thumping of the hosts [GETTY]

Lionel Messi stands as the main threat to Germany ending that yawning wait, though Low is likely to ask either Bastian Schweinsteiger or Sami Khedira to man-mark him.

"Messi is a fantastic player, one of the best in the world, but so was Ronaldo," said left-back Benedikt Hoewedes, referring to their opening game success over Portugal.

"We've got to work as a collective against him because we're not going to be able to beat him one-on-one.

"When we play together tightly even a great player like Messi will have a hard time. If we can defend decently as a team we'll contain him."