Intro
(I want to thank the Fairpoint team for allowing me to host an interview with Klinsmann, which this article is based on.)
They say it’s never wise to meet your heroes. Yet here I was, on a chilly December morning in Southern California, about to meet one of the people who defined my childhood.
Dressed in a casual sweater and sporting his million-dollar grin, Jurgen Klinsmann strides into the posh cafe, offering his hand. Nobody would guess that this middle-aged man is a World Cup and European champion.
As a young boy, my father would let me rent DVD highlights of past World Cups. I remember watching a clip from the 1994 World Cup when Klinsmann scored this beauty of a goal against South Korea. The idea that I would be shaking his hand would have seemed alien to me.
After hearing my name (Albert), he asks if I am German. Struck by his presence, I stupidly reply that I had visited Germany a few months before, not understanding his joke.
Later, I realise that this charm, combined with a desire to excel in uncomfortable situations, helped Klinsmann to survive this long in an unforgiving game.
A Restless Spirit
Klinsmann explains that he envisioned leaving Germany even at a young age. While he was proud to be a German, it was his desire to meet people from different cultures and explore the world that led him to pursue a risky transfer to Inter Milan in 1989.
He raves about his time in Italy, discussing the cultural differences he experienced, such as the difficulty he had in getting his toilet fixed. According to Klinsmann, plumbers in Germany come at a scheduled time, while in Italy, it took multiple days before he could get one to fix his toilet.
When he complained about how long it took for the plumber to arrive, the plumber simply asked if he still wanted the toilet fixed.
Klinsmann says he used this experience to adapt to every foreign country he played in (England, Italy, Monaco). “Take people as they are, not who you expect them to be.”
Klinsmann tells us that the main motivation for his move to Tottenham Hotspur was so that he and his wife could experience life in London.
He admitted that he knew nothing about Tottenham or their history. The only thing he heard was that they were based in London. As a 30-year-old newlywed, it was the perfect situation for him and his wife.
Like his time in Italy, Klinsmann has nothing but good things to say about his stint in England. Despite the initial cold reaction he received from many English fans, he tells us that his dive celebration against Sheffield Wednesday helped endear him to even his harshest critics.
“They realised that a German could have a sense of humour.”
How to Win a World Cup
As the main interview wraps up, we sit down with Jurgen to enjoy a delicious lunch. This is my moment.
Klinsmann’s domestic adventures were fun to hear, but I couldn’t wait to pick his brain about his time with Germany.
After all, not many players win both the World Cup and European Championship in their careers.
When I ask him about the 1990 World Cup in Italy, Klinsmann bluntly admits that Germany was not the best team at the tournament.
I immediately counter with which teams he thought were more talented, and he lists Italy and the Netherlands (which Germany defeated in the round of 16).
Klinsmann believes that in a seven-game tournament, whoever is most willing to engage in a war of attrition has the upper hand.
He raves about the influence of Germany manager Franz Beckenbauer, a legendary player who, at the time, had no prior coaching experience, and his ability to manage different sets of personalities.
And despite not being in the squad, Klinsmann also talks about how the experience of losing to Argentina in the 1986 final prepared the 1990 team to handle adversity.
By the time they reached the final to face Argentina again, Klinsmann says that his side had no doubt they would win the match.
‘German Arrogance’
Despite the positive points of his international career, Klinsmann isn’t shy about dishing on the darker times.
Throughout the day, he talks about an ‘arrogance’ that Germany develops after winning tournaments. A belief that their players and system are too good to fail. This is the same kind of arrogance he believes hurt the 2018 and 2022 World Cup teams, both of which were eliminated in the group stage.
When I ask Klinsmann why Germany lost to Bulgaria in the quarterfinals of the 1994 World Cup (one of the greatest upsets in football history), he readily admits that his team was also arrogant.
Despite having an arguably better roster than the one that won it all in 1990, Germany crashed out against a country that barely qualified for the tournament.
They hadn’t been knocked out before the semi-finals of a World Cup since 1962. They weren’t just expected to beat Bulgaria, it was their divine right.
After grabbing an early lead, Klinsmann believes his side took their foot off the gas and assumed their opponents wouldn’t have the means to mount a comeback.
Bulgarian talisman Hristo Stoichkov’s wonderful free-kick goal with 12 minutes left his team shell-shocked. Just three minutes later, Yordan Letchkov’s flying header sealed their fate.
Klinsmann reveals that Germany goalkeeper Bodo Illgner (at the time just 27 years old) retired in the locker room after the match.
He also admits that the brutal heat of American summers made it difficult for Germany to feel comfortable at the tournament.
Klinsmann mentions the group stage match against South Korea (which Germany won 3-2), which took place in Texas. The Texas heat had a brutal effect on the German players, who had managed to secure a 3-0 lead going into half-time before giving up two unanswered goals.
Klinsmann swears that had the game gone on for five more minutes, there was no doubt the Koreans would have equalised.
Fast forward to the 1998 World Cup in France, and Klinsmann also admits that he originally thought about retiring from the national team after their triumph at Euro 1996.
Due to the birth of his son, he wanted to spend more time with his family, yet the allure of playing at one last World Cup was too much to pass up.
Despite his age, Klinsmann went on to play well in France, netting three goals as Germany were eliminated by Croatia in the quarterfinals.
But when the final whistle blew, he was more than ready to call quits on his international career.
Das Reboot: The Genius of Jogi Loew
After retiring from football, Klinsmann decided to settle down in Southern California where he witnessed his home country crash out in embarrassing fashion at two straight European Championships (2000 and 2004).
When the call came from the DFB to lead Germany at the 2006 World Cup, he was hesitant to take the job.
He emphasised to the DFB that he would take the job on the condition that they would allow him to do things ‘his way’. Part of that meant allowing him to pick his staff, which would include future World-Cup-winning manager Joachim Loew.
Klinsmann’s story about how he met Loew is fascinating as it is random…
The two men go all the way back to the year 2000 when Klinsmann was taking a training course for his coaching license.
According to Klinsmann, Loew, who had already been working as a coach for years, was placed in his class because he was still missing a few credits.
What happened next was something that Klinsmann would never forget.
“There was a training session where he had to run a back four line in an indoor gym. In 30 seconds, he explained how everybody has to shift depending on where the ball is. I remember turning to Guido Buchwald, who I won the World Cup with in 1990, and saying ‘Guido, we’ve had about how many coaches in our lives? They could never really break down exactly where to be and at what time when the ball is there. And in 30 seconds he shows us…. He’s cool’.”
Four years later, when Klinsmann was hired as Germany’s manager, he called Loew, who was under contract to an Austrian club.
Klinsmann made it clear to the unknown manager that this wasn’t going to be a typical head coach and assistant coach relationship. It was a group effort that eventually led to Germany capturing third place on home soil.
Dropping a Legend
However, despite capturing bronze at a home World Cup, Klinsmann tells us that the lead-up to the tournament was strewn with potholes and tough decisions that at times wore him down.
One of the biggest questions was who would be the man in goal for Germany. Despite his incredible performance at the 2002 World Cup, FC Bayern legend Oliver Kahn had slowed down in the lead-up to the 2006 tournament, allowing Arsenal keeper Jehs Lehmann to challenge for the starting position.
During a break in filming, Klinsmann told me that he and his goalkeeping coach Andres Kopke took the time to study goalkeeper performances at every modern World Cup. The one trend they identified was that not one keeper was able to duplicate a high-level performance in two successive tournaments.
Due to intense pressure from Bayern Munich, Klinsmann and his coaches locked themselves in a room a few months before the tournament, and resolved not to leave until they had made a decision.
Klinsmann said Kahn was shocked by the benching and didn’t say anything to the coaching staff for a few days. After the initial shock wore off, Klinsmann noted that Kahn told him that he respected the decision and was a model teammate on and off the field.
The controversial choice to go with Lehmann was derided by many in the media, but it turned out to be the right decision as his timely saves in the shootout in the quarterfinal against Argentina helped Germany advance.
These kinds of controversial decisions would follow Klinsmann into his future roles with the United States and South Korea…
