Interview - Klinsmann: We tell the players, 'live the moment' - Part 2

By Barry Whelan Jun 24, 2006, 0:50 GMT

Berlin - Germany coach Juergen Klinsmann says he was not worried about setbacks before the World Cup because he knew once he had the players together during the tournament everything would fall into place.

In the second part of a three-part interview, he talks about the development of his team and the expectations in Germany.

Q: Have you been surprised about how it has gone at the World Cup so far because you have had a young team with a lot of pressure on them and yet you have got off to your best World Cup start for 36 years?

Klinsmann: 'We knew the qualities of the older, more experienced players like the Ballacks, Frings, Schneiders in our side, but we also learned to identify what the younger generation breaking through was capable of. It gave us a lot of confidence because we said that maybe certain people hadn't seen that yet. We saw a kind of puzzle coming together and we saw things match, and (we knew) if certain key players are healthy before we go into the tournament we are going to have a very competitive team.'

Q: Who are the young players you are talking about?

Klinsmann: 'Players like (Bastian) Schweinsteiger, (Lukas) Podolski, (Philipp) Lahm, Marcell Jansen. Or David Odonkor who we hadn't picked earlier but knew half a year ago what he could give to the team. Then there is Robert Huth who was not playing at Chelsea. But we always told him, 'Robert you have to be patient now, we know how to work with you and when the moment comes you are going to be there'.

'We knew we would have a very good physical base for the tournament because of the people we work with on the fitness side. And the players have faith in us as coaches because we know what we are talking about. I think the players feel that there is somebody there who played six big tournaments so he knows what he is talking about. This is just developing and we are happy, but the whole tournament starts now.'

Q: Is there a danger that the great euphoria in the country after three wins is raising expectations too much and that people may over-estimate the team?

Klinsmann: 'People are enjoying the moment and they have every right to do so. For sure they dream about going all the way to the final and we have that dream too, but we know we have to keep both feet on the ground and have to work very hard to reach the end of the tournament.

'We said there are two things: one is the thing that is happening out there and you can be proud of that if you have a positive influence on it, but the other thing is our daily work and our daily focus and we started to focus on the Sweden game right after the game against Ecuador.

'We look into the eyes of the players and we know exactly if they are focused or not, and if we would see a sign that they can't deal with all those expectations then we deal with it right away. But the team is very confident, is not over-confident. There is a team waiting for us, Sweden, which is a tough one. They could have beaten England and England is one of the favourites as well. That's the fascination of the World Cup. Now it's going from one game to the next.'

Q: Can you explain how you turned things around after a poor result against Italy (4-1 defeat in a friendly in March) and what was needed to effect a change in morale and substance?

Klinsmann: 'For us internally the Italy setback was no problem. It was not nice because we got hammered in the next couple of days and weeks, but we always said the philosophy we developed - a high-paced, attacking style, a very aggressive style - will sometimes have some setbacks. It will happen in the development of young players. They are not able to play consistently at the highest level day in and day out.

'Plus we knew the games in March, even in the US game later on, came at the worse time. The Italy game was in between the Champions League game between Bayern Munich and AC Milan, and Juventus Turin against Werder Bremen. We played them in Italy and were 2-0 down after five minutes because of two individual mistakes, and obviously it was very difficult mentally to hit back in such a game.

'But we were very calm after that game in general. We said 'OK, we got a lesson', and I went out there and said, 'Italy gave us a lesson, that's fine'. The public reaction and the media reaction in Germany is always extreme. I had that for 18 years as a player.

'We knew where we were with the development of the team, we knew how to evaluate last year's Confederations Cup which was a major step for us to grow as a unit, and then we had some ups and downs in some friendly games, always in the middle of some Champions League period - no real measurement because you get them (the players) for two-and-a-half days.

'We knew that once we had the team day in day out for almost four weeks prior to the World Cup that we would create a completely different atmosphere and focus, and also physical base.

'The Bundesliga right now has huge problems to compete with the top leagues in Europe because we had problems over the last years to keep the pace of the top teams like Chelsea, like Arsenal, like Barcelona, like AC Milan, and we saw that - that's the benchmark of international football, what's happening in the Champions League. And so our focus was how can we develop a team that is able to play at that pace and tactically to behave the way it should in order not to get beaten 4-1 by Italy for example?'

Q: Is globalisation a problem, with the number of foreign players in the Bundesliga.

Klinsmann: 'For us it's a huge problem, but it's also (a problem) in France, England, Spain, Italy, in the major leagues, because it is all open. That means that the domestic players have a real tough time to get into the squad. I said, I think about half a year ago - because they complained about my residence (in California) - I said, 'well, have you not seen I choose a national team out of 50 or 60 players and I know them inside out'. I don't have to fly over there and watch Bayern Munich against Schalke or whatever because I know them.'

Q: Do you have an ambition to change the perception of Germany?

Klinsmann: 'We follow two huge goals. My job is with the team, hopefully to the end of the tournament, but the other goal for all of us Germans, it doesn't matter whether I live abroad or in Germany, is that we show a completely new German face to the world. It is a completely different country now after reunification 16 years ago and this is the biggest chance we have for decades to show that face.'

Q: Under your direction people think there is a new element in the German team, always reliable for its efforts but now a little more adventurous. Will we continue to see this?

Klinsmann: 'We have former so-called qualities like being physically top and putting in all the effort in every game. They joked with me when I came here with my American word 'proactive', but what I meant is that I don't want to wait to see how the opponents play and then I adapt to the opponents. I want to dictate, I want to dictate the game - if possible. Against Brazil that might not be possible... That was our goal - to develop a style of play that challenges the players, that the players see over an x amount of time, 'Wow, I'm getting better, I'm learning, I'm in a process where I start to compete at an international level'.'

Q: How do cope with this euphoria in the country? Can you use it or do you say people are euphoric but let's stay calm?

Klinsmann: 'We always told the players, 'Please live that World Cup, live the moment, it's something very special'. At the same time we get them together and get them focused. The first thing we did after the game against Ecuador was we had a meeting in the hotel before we had a barbecue with the families, and said, 'Be proud of what you achieved, be proud of winning the group and enjoy the moment', knowing there are 700,000 people having a party in Berlin, and that all over the country it's something wonderful.' dpa bw ms