Jürgen Klinsmann

Jürgen Klinsmann (German pronunciation: [ˈjʏʁɡŋ̩ ˈkliːnsˌman], born 30 July 1964) is a German association football manager and former player who is currently the head coach of the United States national team. As a player, Klinsmann played for several prominent clubs in Europe and was part of the West German team that won the 1990 FIFA World Cupand the unified German team that won the 1996 UEFA European Championship. One of Germany's premier strikersduring the 1990s, he scored in all six major international tournaments he participated in, from Euro 1988 to 1998 World Cup. In 1995 he came in third in the FIFA World Player of the Year award; in 2004 he was named in the FIFA 100 list of the "125 Greatest Living Footballers".^[1]

Klinsmann managed the German national team to a third-place finish in the 2006 World Cup. On 12 July 2006, he officially announced that he would step down as Germany's coach after two years in charge and be replaced by assistant coach Joachim Löw. He took over as coach of Bundesliga club Bayern Munich in July 2008 when Ottmar Hitzfeld stepped down. On 27 April 2009, he was released early,^[2] even though he had won five of the previous seven league games and was only three points behind league leader VfL Wolfsburg. In the jointly initiated reforms at Bayern, it emerged there was a severe clash of opinions between coach and club management.^[3] On 29 July 2011, the US Soccer Federation named Klinsmann the coach of the United States men's national team.^[4] In 2013 he won the CONCACAF Gold Cup with the United States. He led the United States team to the last 16 of the World Cup in Brazil in 2014. Outside of his professional football life he completed an apprenticeship as a baker in 1982,^[5] runs a Children Charity foundation in four countries, and is a certified helicopter pilot.^[6]

Coaching career

On 26 July 2004, he returned to Germany as the new head coach of the national team,^[23] succeeding former teammate and strike partner Rudi Völler. Klinsmann subsequently embarked on an aggressive program to revamp the management of the team. Bringing fellow German striker Oliver Bierhoff on board helped diffuse public relations duties of the previous combined post away from the actual coaching aspect of the position. Furthermore, he created a youth movement to breathe life into an aging squad on the heels of a disastrous showing at Euro 2004. In the run up to the 2006 World Cup, Klinsmann attracted criticism from German fans and the media following poor results, such as the 4–1 loss to Italy. A particular subject of criticism was that Klinsmann commuted to Germany from the United States, which was the target of a campaign by the "Bild" tabloid. It should be noted that Klinsmann had previously eliminated some privileges Bild traditionally had with the national team, such as receiving the team lineup the day before a match, and 24/7exclusive access to the team. His largely offensive tactics have irritated some, who complain that he ignores defensive football. He announced a squad of young players for the 2006 World Cup, basing his selection policy on performance, not reputation.

During the 2005 Confederations Cup, he regularly rotated his goalkeepers regardless of their performances, which drew the ire of Bayern Munich's Oliver Kahn. On 7 April 2006, Klinsmann finally decided to relegate Kahn to the bench and designated Arsenal's Jens Lehmann as his first choice goalkeeper. This choice followed Lehmann's performances in the 2006 Champions League in which his Arsenal team bowed out in the final against Barcelona.

In the 2006 World Cup, the performances of Klinsmann's team silenced his critics, which included the form of an English song: Who Do You Think You Are Kidding Jurgen Klinsmann?. The team recorded three straight wins against Costa Rica, Poland and Ecuador in the first round, earning Germany first place in Group A. The first game of the knock out stage was a 2–0 victory over Sweden, and in the quarter-finals, Klinsmann's team defeated Argentina, winning 4–2 on penalties. The teams drew 1–1 after 120 minutes after an equalising goal from Miroslav Klose in the 80th minute.^[24]

In the semi-final on 4 July, Germany lost a close match with Italy 2–0 after goals in the final minutes of extra time from Fabio Grosso andAlessandro Del Piero.^[25] After the match, Klinsmann praised the performance of his young team. They beat Portugal 3–1 in the third place play-off, where he played Kahn instead of Jens Lehmann.^[26] The victory triggered a massive Berlin parade the following day where Klinsmann and the team were honoured by the public.

Afterward, Franz Beckenbauer, previously a strident critic of Klinsmann's, declared his desire to see Klinsmann continue as coach. There was also widespread public support for Klinsmann due to his team's spirit and attacking style of play. The team's strong performance is thought by some to have renewed national pride and restored Germany's reputation as a top footballing nation. Due to his success coaching the national team, Klinsmann was awarded the Bundesverdienstkreuz. He was even referred to as "Kaiser", a term meaning "emperor" in German, usually reserved for German footballing greats, e.g. Franz Beckenbauer.

Despite the highly acclaimed performance at the World Cup and the praise earned, Klinsmann declined to renew his contract, informing the DFB of his decision on 11 July 2006. The decision was officially announced by the DFB on 12 July 2006. Klinsmann's assistant Joachim Löw was appointed as the new head trainer at the same press conference.^[27]^[28] Klinsmann said "My big wish is to go back to my family, to go back to leading a normal life with them ... After two years of putting in a lot of energy, I feel I lack the power and the strength to continue in the same way.

Bayern Munich

In July 2008 Klinsmann took over as coach of Bayern Munich, succeeding Ottmar Hitzfeld.^[30] Klinsmann helped design a new player development and performance center for Bayern and then launched into molding the team for the Bundesliga and UEFA Champions League campaigns. Under his guidance, Bayern reached the quarter final of the Champions League, losing to eventual champion FC Barcelona.

Bayern's record during the 2008–09 UEFA Champions League was six wins, three draws, and one loss (to Barcelona). In the Bundesliga, Bayern was only three points off first place, with five matches to play, when Klinsmann was replaced as head coach due to a difference of opinion with the club's board of directors. Bayern's record under Klinsmann during the 2008–09 Bundesliga season was 16 wins, six draws, and seven losses.^[31]

United States

On 29 July 2011, Klinsmann was named head coach of the United States, making him the 35th coach in the history of the program.^[32]^[33]

In his first six games as head coach of the United States, the USMNT lost four games, winning one and drawing one. They ended the 2011 season with a victory over Slovenia, in a rematch of the World Cup group action. For his abysmal start as a United States coach, Klinsmann again faced criticism regarding his decisions and strategies that failed to produce satisfactory results.

On 29 February 2012, the U.S. national team recorded a historic 1–0 victory in a friendly match away against Italy. It was their first win against the four-time FIFA World Cup champion, stopping the 10-match winless streak against Italy dating back to 1934. The U.S. also broke Italy's 20 game winning streak against all opponents at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris in Genoa.^[34] On 15 August 2012, Klinsmann coached the United States to a historic win against long time rivals Mexico 1–0 in the Estadio Azteca, giving the U.S. their first victory over Mexico in the stadium. In 2012 Klinsmann coached the United States to their best winning percentage in a calendar year in history.

In 2013, Klinsmann coached the U.S. team in Estadio Azteca in the third World Cup qualifying game of the 2013 CONCACAF Hexagonal, where the United States earned their second point in history with a scoreless draw against Mexico. On 2 June 2013, the United States played their centennial celebratory game against Germany, where Klinsmann coached them to a 4–3 win, their first win against a Top 2 team since the U.S. defeated Spain in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup. On 28 July, Klinsmann coached the U.S. team to their fifth CONCACAF Gold Cup, defeating Panama 1–0 in the final.^[35] On 10 September 2013, following a 2–0 win over Mexico, the United States secured qualification for the 2014 World Cup, to be held in Brazil.

Personal life

Klinsmann's family operates a bakery in Stuttgart's Botnang district and consequently he is sometimes affectionately referred to as the "baker's son from Botnang". Klinsmann is in fact a journeyman baker, having served an apprenticeship.^[8] He is married to Debbie Chin, an American former model, and lives in Huntington Beach, California. Klinsmann and his wife have two children, Jonathan and Laila.^[47]^[48]Aside from German, Klinsmann is fluent in English, Italian and French,^[49] and one of his hobbies is flying helicopters in Southern California.^[6]

Managerial[edit]

As of 18 November 2014

Team	From	To	Record
Team	From	To	G	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %	Ref.
Germany	26 July 2004^[23]	11 July 2006^[29]	34	20	8	6	81	43	+38	58.82	^[59]^[60]^[61]^[62]
Bayern Munich	1 July 2008^[63]	27 April 2009^[63]	44	25	9	10	96	50	+46	56.82	^[63]^[64]
United States	1 August 2011^[33]	present	59	33	11	15	99	63	+36	55.93	^[65]^[66]^[67]^[68]
Total			137	78	28	31	276	156	+120	56.93	—

Jürgen Klinsmann
Personal information
Klinsmann in 2013
Date of birth	30 July 1964 (age 50)
Place of birth	Göppingen, West Germany
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11 ¹⁄₂ in)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current team	United States (Head coach)
Youth career
1972–1974	TB Gingen
1974–1978	SC Geislingen
1978–1981	Stuttgarter Kickers
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps^†	(Gls)^†
1981–1984	Stuttgarter Kickers	61	(22)
1984–1989	VfB Stuttgart	155	(79)
1989–1992	Internazionale	95	(34)
1992–1994	AS Monaco	65	(29)
1994–1995	Tottenham Hotspur	41	(20)
1995–1997	Bayern Munich	65	(31)
1997–1998	Sampdoria	8	(2)
1997–1998	→ Tottenham Hotspur (loan)	15	(9)
2003	Orange County Blue Star	8	(5)
Total		513	(231)
National team
1980–1981	West Germany U16	3	(0)
1984–1985	West Germany U21	8	(3)
1987–1988	West Germany Olympic	14	(8)
1987–1990	West Germany	28	(9)
1990–1998	Germany	80	(38)
Teams managed
2004–2006	Germany
2008–2009	Bayern Munich
2011–	United States
Honours[show]
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Honours

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sábado, 27 de dezembro de 2014