Germany v USA, Friendly International, Dortmund

Klinsmann Gets Forty Winks as the Vultures Circle

Sean O'Conor

Jurgen Klinsmann probably slept well for the first time in a while after Germany defeated the USA 4-1 in Dortmund but the following morning the stress of holding the host nation's World Cup hopes in his hands probably returned.

One of Europe's greatest ever forwards, a World Cup and European Championship winner, left the game in 1998 with nothing left to prove in order to claim his place in football's hall of fame.

But six years later his voluntary exile in California, where he had established a soccer consultancy with his American wife, ended as he accepted the awesome challenge of guiding Germany to the 2006 World Cup as host nation.

That the host nation enjoys a good run in the finals is important for the tournament as a whole with the concomitant interest from the local people and media. As with the USA in 1994 or Japan and Korea in 2002, the very least that is expected is progress through the first round.

It is unlikely Germany will exit in the first round given the opposition is Poland, Ecuador and Costa Rica in Group A, but some Germans are even expressing doubts about that. And this is the nation that has been to seven World Cup Finals, winning three of them.

The problem is the Nationalmannschaft has nothing like the crop of players it had in 1990, the date of their last World Cup triumph, and the national coach, as always, absorbs the frustration of a nation, in this case one accustomed to dominating international football.

Germany won Euro '96 but otherwise have been on a downward curve since Italia '90 and at the last two European Championships, were imminently forgettable. They did reach the 2002 World Cup Final it is true, but their route to Yokohama, featuring Ireland, Cameroon, Saudi Arabia, Paraguay, the USA and South Korea, was one conspicuously absent of the world's heavyweights.

Philipp Lahm, Sebastian Deisler and if he is on form, Fabian Schweinsteiger, are certainly good players but with Michael Ballack the only truly outstanding player in the team, Klinsmann must forge the sort of unity that Greece had in Euro 2004, or indeed Argentina in 1986 when Maradona was head and shoulders above unspectacular colleagues.

Recent form has included defeats away to Slovakia and Turkey and a 4-1 mauling in Florence by the Italians last month so it is no surprise that many German fans are bearing anti-Klinsmann banners.

Franz Beckenbauer, the overlord of German football and his nation's uncrowned king, weighed in to lambast his national team coach for staying in California until two months before the finals and failing to attend a recent meeting about World Cup travel arrangements.

The 'baker's boy from Botnang' (Klinsmann's parents run a bakery in the Stuttgart suburb) had made himself a national hero from his playing days, so the German people have split down the middle on the Klinsmann issue.

A poor showing in Dortmund against the Americans would therefore have put him under extreme pressure with the World Cup barely two months away.

At half time the omens were not good. Klinsmann had fielded his best team available but the USA, missing six of the team who are likely to start at the World Cup in Group E, coped comfortably with whatever the Germans had in attack and probably shaded the first 45 minutes.

The German team had exited the field at half time to jeers, but seconds after coming out from the changing rooms for the second period, the Germans took a surprise lead when Schweinsteiger's inswinging set-piece evaded a crowded box and crept in at the far post.

Oliver Neuville's classy strike in the 73rd opened the floodgates of the fledgling US defence and six minutes later it was 4-0 to Klinsmann, the US grabbing a consolation with five minutes left on the clock.

"We are not going to scream with joy now. We know that we can play better," was the wise assessment of German striker Miroslav Klose, the Bundesliga's top marksman, while US coach Bruce Arena reminded reporters of his missing personnel and admitted he regretted agreeing to the match in the first place.

'Klinsi you can smile now' was the predictable headline on the following day's front page of Bild Zeitung, Germany's No.1 selling newspaper, but Klinsmann, well aware of the coming storm he must navigate, correctly summed up the evening at the Westfalen Stadion:
“There is no reason for euphoria, but it is good for self-confidence.”

Sean O'Conor

Germany v USA, Wednesday, March 22, 2006, Dortmund
Attendance: 64,500

Germany Starting XI
Oliver Kahn, Arne Friedlich, Philip Lahm, Per Mersacker, Christoph Metzelder, Michael Ballack, Sebastian Kehl, Bernd Schneider, Gerald Asamoah, Miroslav Klose, Lukas Podolski

USA Starting XI
Kasey Keller, Greg Berhalter, Steve Cherundolo, Jimmy Conrad, Cory Gibbs, Pablo Mastroeni, Bobby Convey, Kerry Zavagnin, Brian Ching, Eddie Johnson, Josh Wolff

Images © Sean O'Conor

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