German football rocked by Enke death

November 10, 10:24 PMMiami Soccer ExaminerJuan Arango

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Two Hannover fans at makeshift memorial (AP Photo/Focke Strangmann)

To people that follow the game it was a shock.  To fans of Hannover 96, it was complete disbelief.  Goalkeeper Robert Enke died Tuesday evening after being run over by a train that was arriving into the station over in the nearby town of Neustadt am Rübenberg.  

According to reports from the police they have come to the conclusion that this was a suicide as his car was found a few meters away, unlocked, and with his wallet sitting on the passenger side.  "It was a suicide," said the player's agent and friend Jörg who refused to say anything else regarding the matter.

The incident occured at around 6pm local time and soon the news spread like wildfire all over Europe.  Barcelona, team which he played for in the 2002-03 season, wore black armband in memory of the fallen colleague.  Once news spread of the death of the Hannover captain, makeshift memorials were made at the stadium as well as at the train station where the death occured.

(AP Photo/Focke Strangmann)

The news was a huge shock to the German national team who was practicing in Bonn for their upcoming friendly matches against Chile in Köln and Ivory Coast in Africa. 

Coach Joachim Löw had Enke in his plans for the upcoming World Cup in Germany and decided to give the goalkeeper some time to recover from until he injured his hand and then was struck down with a serious case of campylobacter bacteria in his intestines that had him suffering from dysentery-like symptoms for well over a month and saw him miss the last four German World Cup qualifying matches. After overcoming that, Enke returned to practice with Hannover and played this past weekend against Hamburg.

"We are in a state of shock and deep sorrow.  Our hearts go out to (Robert's) wife and hif family,"  said federation president Theo Zwanziger.  He also mentioned that there is still no plans as to what might happen regarding the friendly on Saturday as some media outlets are asking for it to not be postponed due to the former German international's passing.  A statement is expected on Wednesday regarding this matter and other regarding the death of one of the most popular players in the Bundesling and on the German national team.

Even former Benfica teammate Nuno Gomes expressed his sorrow. "It's hard for me to believe that he died.  This is a great loss for world football to lose an individual as unique as him in time like these."

Enke despite having to deal with the challenges of the football pitch he had to deal with others that made an insult or a jeer from fans and foes seem minute.  Hannover president Martin Kind spoke of him and mentioned that he had some "emotional instability" but "never imagined anything like this".

In addition to having an impressive list of teams on his resume that included Barcelona, Benfica, Borussia Monchengladbach, and Fenrbahce.  Although he was not given a great deal of opportunities to play, once he returned to he was quickly making a name for himself as one of the top goalkeepers in Europe.  Enke made was first called up to Die Manschafft back in 1999 and was part of the team that took part in that year's Confederations Cup. Eight years leater he returned and quickly became a player at the goalkeeper position  He earned six caps for the German national team and was well on his way to becoming the heir apparent to Jens Lehmann, 

But regardless of the fame and fortune there was one thing he could never replace.  To many that knew him, his daughter Lara was his greatest joy.  His little girl suffered from a congenital heart condition and died at the age of two back in 2006.  Enke, like any other father, was devastated.   Many even come to say that he never recovered from Lara's death.  What makes this story even sadder is that his daughter is buried just 200 meters from where he died on Tuesday evening. 

Enke is survived by his wife Teresa and his adopted baby.

Readers: If you would like to leave your condolences please do so in the comments sections.  We will do everything in our power to send them to Hannover 96 accordingly.