From his home in California, with a photo of Pele in the background and the replica of the World Cup looming among the other treasures he has achieved thanks to his successful career, Jürgen Klinsmann puts the quiet of his family life aside for just over 40 minutes and sits down to talk about football.
He lives in Newport Beach, where he settled with his wife, the former Chinese-American model Debbie Chin, and their two children, Jonathan and Leila, after a brief spell as coach of Hertha Berlin (he spent two and a half months at drives between the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020) and is called for a quiet talk, organized by the Bundesliga, with journalists from different parts of the world. There is Clarin.
The question for Lionel Messi and the Argentina national team It is inevitable. His answer is another example of the admiration that the Argentine star generates everywhere. “He had a very heavy weight on his shoulders because he was always compared to Maradona. And it is logical that it is so. I was happy when he won the title,” says the German who faced, as a coach, Leo and Diego as a footballer. There will be more albiceleste nuances in the ex-scorer’s statements.
the story of world champion in Italy 90′ and a figure of European football in those years began, under the eyes of the world, in Stuttgart Kicker of the second division of Germany, one step before reaching the renowned VfB Stuttgart And be 1987-88 Bundesliga top scorer with 19 goals
However, its origins lie in goppingen, small town in southern Bavaria. There he had his first contact with a ball, at the age of eight, when he played amateur and purely for fun at TB Gingen. His father, Siegfried, was a master baker and established his business in Stuttgart. The Klinsmann family moved there when little Jürgen was fourteen.
He studied the craft baker And it may be that his destiny would have been there if he hadn’t become a footballer, but from a very young age he stood out with the ball at his feet and knew that was where he wanted to aim his future. Legend has it that he managed to convert 16 goals in a children’s soccer match.
He fulfilled his dream of taking his goals around the world (he scored 319 goals in 708 PJs), but he never forgot his early days: At the end of his career, at the age of 39, he returned to amateur football under the pseudonym Jay Göppingen to go unnoticed. Yes, it’s as great as it sounds.
In times of social networks and globalization, where the face of a footballer of Klinsmann’s stature is known all over the world, it seems unusual to think that he can hide by changing his name. However, he did. He played a few months in the Orange Country Blue Star of the fourth division of the United States, the first step for his family project to move to the North American country.
“It’s a very funny story”, He says to Clarin. “The man who ran the league didn’t want to put my name so as not to arouse so much interest and so that no one would disturb me. Therefore, without warning me, He wrote to me as Jay Göppingen: Jay for the initial of my name and Göppingen for the place where I was born”continues narrating.
“One day at a game in San Diego, a reporter who was watching recognized me, wrote a note about it, and several media outlets echoed that story. It was fun while it lasted,” he says with a laugh.
“I currently play on Sundays in a team that is a mix of Italians and Mexicans. There is also a boy from Peru and we play in a league of twelve teams. We have a lot of fun. I love football,” he concluded.
He was world champion in Italy in the 90′, reached the quarter-finals in the 94′ and 98′ and led Germany to the World Cup in 2006 and the United States in Brazil 2014. In short, without participation in Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022 , It is the first time in more than 30 years that he has accumulated two consecutive World Cups as a spectator. He doesn’t complain.
“I was lucky. I was in Qatar for five weeks, working for FIFA in a sort of technical study group with Arsene Wenger. I watched 33 matches. It was great fun.”contacted.
Regarding the Scaloneta title, he left a definition that is already widespread in the world of football: “I became a fan of Argentina after Germany were eliminated so early. I wanted Messi to win this World Cup. He really deserved it.” he pointed.
“Everyone was happy for Messi because he’s a fantastic person. I’ve seen him many times and he’s always been very kind, especially the way he handles the thousands of fans who rush towards him. And that dramatic ending…it was as good as it gets.”He added.
The first meeting between Klinsmann and Messi, in Germany 2006, left an image to remember, that of Leo sitting on the bench, mortified, after being eliminated on penalties. Jürgen, coach of the Teutonic team at the time, recalled that moment: “I was hoping that guy wouldn’t come in. They picked a defender (referring to the exchange of Cambiasso with Riquelme) when they were winning and I could breathe.”
Klinsmann and the GOAT football debate
Who is the best footballer of all time? That question that is asked over and over again among football fans, and which was further inflamed with Messi’s fantastic performance in Qatar, seems to be an easy answer for Klinsmann.
He recognizes Pelé and Franz Beckenbauer, expresses all his admiration for Messi and also adds to the discussion two others who failed to become world champions like Cruyff and Platini. However, he sets one above the rest. “There is a difference between Maradona and the others, and that is that he was an artist. I have faced him several times and I have a lot of admiration for what he was able to do on the pitch. It’s another level,” summary.
The 58-year-old German highlighted Diego in all his facets: “Off the pitch he was a positive and simple person. We always talked about him, but I found him spectacular.”
When asked by Pele, left his memory of the missing Brazilian star on December 29. “I shared a marketing campaign with him in 2004 in Portugal and we spent several days together. There I met the kind of person he was: a wonderful person, always smiling, always kind to everyone and with an incredible charisma. And what he’s done on the pitch is crazy.”
“I have good memories. During the World Cup we knew he wasn’t well and we always talked about it, hoping he could improve. Then the news of his death came and it was very sad. It’s still a very sad situation.”he concluded.
Qatar 2022, complicated World Cup for “their teams”
inside the field, Qatar 2022 It was a very good World Cup for the US national team. They have challenged a powerhouse like England and have shown that they are a team with young talent who, in the future, can give people something to talk about. Out of the green meadow, the scandal of Greg Berhalter and Giovanni Reyna It was the stain that still hasn’t been erased.
The coach admitted to brutally beating Rosalind María, his girlfriend at the time and who would later become his wife, in 1991. This situation was triggered, as he himself commented, thanks to some messages received from a third person, who threatened him to reveal this great hidden secret if he continued to lead the team. This led him to confess.
To this were added the statements of Daniel Reina, Rosalind’s close friend and mother of Giovanni, the American footballer of Borussia Dortmund. She admitted that it was she who contacted the national federation (US Soccer) to report the incident and, given Giovanni’s low participation in the World Cup, controversy broke out.
Strongly identified with American soccer, and awaiting news of the investigation US Soccer is carrying out, Klinsmann commented on the matter: “It’s sad. What you expect, from the fans’ point of view, is that when you come to a tournament every ounce of energy is saved for the team. That didn’t happen here. There were some problems.” He began by saying who was the US recruiter between 2011 and 2016.
“When we talk about Giovanni Reyna, we’re talking about a very talented player, one of those who make the difference. And the coaches are always looking for who makes the difference. They have to understand things in the coming months. The United States is heading towards organizing the next World Cup, together with Mexico and Canada, and a real team needs to be formed to go very far in the tournament,” he concluded.
Even with these conflicts, he defined Qatar 2022 as a good World Cup for the North American team from a sporting point of view and referred to the situation of his team, Germany, which is going through one of the worst moments in its history after being eliminated in the group stage in the last two World Cups.
“I imagine what goes on in the heads of the players who were in Qatar. I’ve had some disappointments, two World Cups lost in the quarter-finals, which is already a disaster for us, and I know it’s very difficult to absorb. Even the European Championship in the 92nd minute, when we lost the final against Denmark. It took me months to get over that defeat,” she confessed.
“It will take a long time to leave him Backwards. It could also hit them during this second half of the season at their clubs. I hope that the players, step by step, can overcome this blow and think about the future,” she concluded.
Source: Clarin
Jason Root is the go-to source for sports coverage at News Rebeat. With a passion for athletics and an in-depth knowledge of the latest sports trends, Jason provides comprehensive and engaging analysis of the world of sports.