STRANGLY, I'm starting to think that this Eurowatch feature is cursed

First Franck Ribery gets left on the bench, then Ricardo Quaresma and now, when I turn my attention to the Dutch League and Klass-Jan Huntelaar, the Holland police go on strike and Ajax's clash with PSV is cancelled!

Thankfully, through the wonders of subscription satellite television, I was able to dig out coverage of Stuttgart's game against Werder Bremen and settled down for a long-

awaited viewing of 'super' Mario Gomez.

Stuttgart's lethal goalscorer is actually German, despite the Iberian name he was given by his Spanish father, and broke into Joachim Low's international side last year, scoring on his debut against Switzerland and adding two more to his tally shortly afterwards against San Marino.

Stuttgart won the German title last year but they've had a dreadful season, losing 10 games and finding themselves some way adrift of the leaders Bayern Munich.

Werder, on the other hand, have been typically excellent and are the nearest challengers to Ottmar Hitzfeld's expensively assembled side.

It was a wonderful surprise then to see such an incredibly open game of football.

Stuttgart began as if they were trying to illustrate exactly why they were going to have to give back their Bundesliga title in May.

They gave away an appallingly soft opening goal and looked pedestrian as Werder whipped the ball around with a series of deft passing manoeuvres.

Gomez, winner of last season's top goalscorer award, could only stand and watch.

STRONG

It was almost 20 minutes before he made his mark, but it was worth the wait.

He latched on to a fine through ball from team-mate, Pavel Pardo, and raced into the penalty-area.

His scorching pace took him around the oncoming goalkeeper and he slotted home from a difficult angle.

Gomez is a very similar player to Alan Shearer in that he is physically strong, but not so strong that it slows him down.

He is powerful in the air, like Luca Toni of Italy, he knows where his team-mates are and constantly lurks in dangerous positions.

When he chases a defender to a loose ball, it's like watching a 'hot' Spanish bull pursuing a tourist through the streets of Pamplona.

Nothing else exists for him except the target and woe betide anyone who gets in his way.

He scored a second goal in almost identical circumstances and Stuttgart began to open up and express themselves.

Werder came back at 2-2 after the break, but that only seemed to infuriate Gomez further, which appears to be a bad idea, as he quickly slotted home his third goal with 25 minutes still left to play before setting up a fourth for Cacau.

Astonishingly, the goals just kept coming, though there were no more for Gomez, and Stuttgart eventually ran home 6-3 winners.

If all German football is like this, I'm tuning in more frequently.

Low has excelled as Germany's manager since taking over from Jurgen Klinsmann after the 2006 World Cup and he has shown an admirable enthusiasm to allow youngsters to prove themselves.

Miroslav Klose, Kevin Kuranyi and Lukas Podolski are all jostling ahead of Gomez in the pecking order.

But there's not much in it. Keep an eye on this one, he could go all the way.

STAR PLAYER

Mario Gomez

SPEED 8/10

Skill 8/10

DETERMINATION 10/10

TOTAL:26/30