Beetle driver Klinsmann carries Germany to quarterfinals

[kenneth <ask.me@newsgroup.>]

http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=ap-wcup-cornerkicks&prov=ap&type=lgns

While his teammates at Inter Milan, Tottenham Hotspur and Monaco drove
Porsches and BMWs, Klinsmann tooled around in a blue '67 Volkswagen
Beetle with a Snoopy sticker on the dashboard. Instead of living in
Germany, where he's as celebrated as Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods in
the United States, he settled in California, where his wife grew up. And
when he got the itch to play some pick-up games a few years back, he
hooked up with a developmental league team in southern California.

So it should have come as no surprise that when he was hired two years
ago to coach Germany, Klinsmann wasn't going to do things the old way.

"He's a forward thinker," said friend and U.S. coach Bruce Arena. "He
thinks differently than other people, and he's a modern thinker. He's
not willing to accept what's been done in the past. That's certainly
caught the Germans by surprise because, in a lot of ways, they're
traditionalists. He had a new way of thinking."

Klinsmann was one of the best players Germany ever produced, a strong,
opportunistic striker who could create a goal out of nothing. He led
Germany to its third World Cup title in 1990 and was the first player to
score three goals in three different tournaments. He also won two UEFA
Cups, one with Inter and one with Bayern Munich, and a Bundesliga title.
He was player of the year in Germany twice and in England once.

He could have had riches and fame to last a lifetime, but material
things have never really mattered to Klinsmann. He didn't even have an
agent when he played, negotiating his own contracts.

"It's just not important to him," said Mark Verstegen, a friend and
founder of Athletes Performance, the training group that works with the
German team. "I don't think I've ever seen him wear a fancy watch. He's
just Juergen."

When he retired in 1998, Klinsmann left all the trappings behind. He and
American wife Debbie decided to raise their two children in the United
States. In Germany -- or anywhere in Europe, for that matter --
Klinsmann would be news whatever he did.

And if his son, Jonathan, happened to take up his father's game,
photographers and reporters would be sure to follow, even if it was just
a kids' league.

In sun-kissed Orange County, though, the 41-year-old Klinsmann is just
another good-looking blond. On a rare occasion he's recognized, but for
the most part he basks in anonymity.

"I didn't want to live in the past," Klinsmann told USA Today last
December. "I wanted to start the second chapter in my life."

Starting a new chapter didn't mean forgetting everything he'd already
written. He became a partner in a soccer marketing and business
development group, got involved with the U.S. team, consulted with the
Los Angeles Galaxy of MLS and appeared at U.S. Soccer Federation youth
clinics.

But when Klinsmann accepted the Germany job, many of his friends were
surprised.

"I was because I think Juergen was not yet set on whether he wanted to
have involvement in soccer on the technical side. He had interest on the
management side," Arena said.

Still, it was a dream to restore Germany's program. It had won three
World Cups and was surprise runner-up to Brazil in 2002 but was
struggling in 2004, losing in the first round of the European
Championship -- failing to win a game. Two coaches rejected the job.
When Klinsmann took it, he promised a shake-up.

Little did anyone realize how serious he was.

He hired Verstegen's group, who introduced the Germans to distinctly
American equipment like elastic cords for stretching. He brought in
sports psychologists. He overhauled the team's practices and ditched
Germany's slow, predictable pace for a high-octane attack. He chose
longtime backup goalkeeper Jens Lehmann over Oliver Kahn and gave Kahn's
captaincy to Michael Ballack.

"I said, `Are you sure this is something that you really want to do?"'
Verstegen said. "And you know Juergen. He said `Absolutely.' I said,
`You know what you're getting yourself into?' And he said, `Yep, we all
know."'

Said Klinsmann: "I knew if I put the right staff together and got the
right mixture that we could develop something special. It's a new
approach, and we believe in that approach."

Perhaps most galling to Germans was his insistence on living in
California. He hired Oliver Bierhoff to handle logistics and day-to-day
business while assistant coach Joachim Loew worked with players.
Klinsmann commuted to Germany several times a month and stayed in
contact with his players via e-mail, telephone and video conferencing.

It's little different than what Brazil's Carlos Alberta Parreira does
with most of his players based in Europe. Guus Hiddink continued to
coach in the Netherlands after taking over Australia.

But not living in Europe is one thing. Being almost an American is quite
another.

"The United States is a sore point for everybody in the world," Arena
said. "It doesn't mesh with anybody in the world in terms of this sport,
but it's getting there."

The critics stayed silent when Klinsmann's team got off to an impressive
start, finishing third in last summer's Confederations Cup after a 3-2
loss to Brazil in the semifinals.

But when Germany lost to Slovakia and Turkey and was routed 4-1 by
Italy, the critics unleashed their fury. Franz Beckenbauer, the most
influential figure in German soccer, knocked him publicly.

"I don't know if you can compare it to anything," said Sigi Schmid, the
German-born coach of the Columbus Crew. "When you look at American
sports, there's not really a national team that carries the weight with
it. It's maybe close to the Yankees with Steinbrenner on your case all
the time.

"You're carrying the weight of the whole country," Schmid added. "The
whole country is saying you've got to perform."

Things got so ugly that German chancellor Angela Merkel stepped in.

"He hurt a lot of people, he stepped on a lot of toes," Beckenbauer said
Thursday. "But if you have new people taking over a job, you will have
to accept that some changes are being made."

Regardless of how loudly people howled, Klinsmann refused to budge on
his beliefs. Germany's team needed to change, and as long as he was
coach, it would.

Now it's hard to see how anyone doubted him. Germany breezed through its
qualifying group. It leads the tournament with 10 goals, along with
Argentina and Brazil, and it needed only 12 minutes to score twice
against Sweden in the second round. It has allowed only two goals, none
in the last three games.

Germany plays Argentina on Friday in a game many are comparing to a final.

"What people are seeing here with the team, the things that they comment
on, is a direct reflection of" Klinsmann, Verstegen said. "We embody
what he stands for, and it's not easy because it's different. He has an
optimistic outlook on everything that he does.

"He's a great role model for the German people," Verstegen added. "He's
a great role model for everyone."
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