From his home in California, with an image of
Pelé
in the background and the replica of the World Cup looming among other treasures he achieved thanks to his successful career,
Jürgen Klinsmann puts aside the tranquility of his life for just over 40 minutes. with family 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 his brief stint as coach of Hertha Berlin (he spent two and a half months in charge between the end of 2019 and early 2020) and is summoned for a relaxed talk, organized by the Bundesliga, with journalists from different parts of the world.
There is Clarin.
The question about
Lionel Messi
and the
Argentine National Team
is inevitable.
His response, one more example of the admiration that the Argentine star generates everywhere.
"He had a very big weight on his shoulders because they always compared him to Maradona. And it's logical that it should be that way. I was happy when he won the title,"
says the German who faced Leo as a coach and Diego as a footballer.
There will be more albiceleste overtones in the ex-scorer's statements.
Clarín spoke with Jürgen Klinsmann.
The history of
the world champion in Italy 90'
and figure of European football in those years began, for the world to see, in the
Stuttgarter Kickers
of the second division of Germany, a step prior to reaching the renowned
VfB Stuttgart
and being
the top scorer in the Bundesliga 1987-88 with 19 goals
However, its origins are in
Göppingen
, a small city in the south of the Bavarian country.
There he had his first contact with a ball, at the age of eight, playing amateur and for mere entertainment 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 years old.
He studied the trade of
baker
and that may have been where his destiny had been 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 that was where he wanted to point 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 in 708 PJ), but he never forgot his beginnings:
at the end of his career, at the age of 39, he returned to playing at an amateur level and did so under the pseudonym Jay Göppingen for unnoticed.
Yes, that's as amazing as it sounds.
In times of social networks and globalization, in which the face of a footballer of the stature of Klinsmann is known worldwide, it seems unusual to think that he can hide himself by changing his name.
However, he did it.
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 of moving to the North American country.
Above, fourth from left to right, Jürgen Klinsmann during his time in American amateur soccer.
"It's a very funny story,"
he tells Clarín.
"The man who ran the league did not want to put my name so as not to generate so much interest and so that no one would bother me. Therefore, without notifying me,
he listed me as Jay Göppingen: Jay (jota in English) for the initial of my name and Göppingen because of the place where I was born"
, he continues narrating.
"One day, at a game in San Diego, a journalist who was watching recognized me, wrote a note about it and different media outlets echoed that news.
It was funny while it lasted," he says with a laugh.
"Currently I play on Sundays in a team that is a mixture 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 soccer," he concluded.
Klinsmann lifts the world champion trophy in Italy 90'.
SYGMA/Franco Origlia.
He was world champion in Italy 90', reached the quarterfinals in 94' and 98' and led the German team in their 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 kind of technical study group with Arsene Wenger. I watched 33 games. It was a lot of fun,"
he said.
On
the Scaloneta title, he left a definition that is already widespread in the world of football:
"I became a fan of Argentina after Germany was eliminated so early. I wanted Messi to win this World Cup. He really deserved it," he
said .
.
"Everyone was happy for Messi because he is a great person. I saw him many times and he was always very polite, especially how he handles the thousands of fans who rush at him.
And that dramatic final... was the better than could be imagined," he
added.
Klinsmann during Germany vs.
Argentina from the 2006 World Cup. AP/Thomas Kienzle.
The first meeting between Klinsmann and Messi, in Germany 2006, left an image to remember, that of Leo sitting on the substitute bench, crestfallen, after being eliminated on penalties.
Jürgen, coach of the Teutonic team at the time, recalled that moment:
"I was hoping that boy wouldn't come in. They chose a defensive player
(referring to the change of Cambiasso for Riquelme)
when they were winning and I could breathe".
Klinsmann and the soccer GOAT debate
Who is the best soccer player of all time?
This question that is repeated over and over again among football lovers, and which was further inflamed by 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 even adds two others who failed to become world champions like Cruyff and Platini to the discussion.
However, he puts one above the rest.
"There is a difference between Maradona and the others, and it is that he was an artist. I faced him several times and I feel a lot of admiration for what he was able to do on the field. It is another level,"
he summed up.
The 58-year-old German highlighted Diego in all his facets:
"He was a positive and simple person off the pitch. Things were always said about him, but I met someone spectacular."
When asked by
Pelé
, he left his memory of the Brazilian star who died on December 29.
"I shared a marketing campaign with him in 2004 in Portugal and we spent several days together. There
I got to know the kind of person he was: someone wonderful, always smiling, always kind to everyone and with incredible charisma. And what he did Inside the field it's crazy."
"I have great memories. During the World Cup we knew he wasn't doing well and we talked about him all the time, 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, a complicated World Cup for "their teams"
On the pitch,
Qatar 2022
was a very good World Cup for the United States National Team.
They complicated a power like England and proved to be a team with young talents who, in the future, can give people something to talk about.
Outside the green grass, the
scandal of Greg Berhalter and Giovanni Reyna
was the stain that has not yet been erased.
The coach admitted to having brutally beaten 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 that he received from a third party, who threatened him with revealing this great hidden secret if he continued in charge of the team.
That led him to confess.
To this were added the statements of
Danielle Reyna,
a close friend of Rosalind and
mother of Giovanni, the American soccer player for Borussia Dortmund.
She admitted that it was she who contacted the national federation (US Soccer) to tell what happened and, given Giovanni's little participation in the World Cup,
controversy broke out.
Very identified with American soccer, and while waiting for news about the investigation that US Soccer is carrying out, Klinsmann commented on the matter:
"It is sad. What is expected, from the perspective of the fan, is that when you arrive at a tournament each piece of energy is saved for the team. Here that did not happen. There were problems",
began by saying who was the US selector between 2011 and 2016.
Jurgen Klinsmann was the coach of the US team that played in the Copa América del Centenario.
AP/Eric Gay.
"When we talk about Giovanni Reyna, we're talking about a very talented player, one of those who make a difference. And coaches are always looking for those who make a difference. They have to figure things out in the coming months. The
United States is heading to organize the next World Cup, along with Mexico and Canada, and a true team must be formed to go very far in the tournament," he closed.
Even with these conflicts, he defined
Qatar 2022
as a good World Cup for the North American team in terms of sports 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 knockout phase. groups in the last two World Cups.
"I can imagine
what goes through the heads of the players
who were in Qatar. I had some disappointments, losing two World Cups in the quarterfinals, which is already a disaster for us, and I know it's very difficult to assimilate. Also EURO 92' , when we lost the final with Denmark. It took me months to get over that defeat," he confessed.
"It will take them a long time to leave it
behind
. It may even affect them during this second part of the season in their clubs. I hope that the players, step by step, can overcome this hard blow and think about the future", he closed.
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