Part of the initial appeal of the United States to Jurgen Klinsmann lay in his anonymity there. Go back a couple of decades and Germany’s World Cup-winning striker went west to escape his status as one of football’s most recognisable faces.
“I wouldn’t go to America to watch soccer,” he said after the 1994 World Cup was awarded to the US. “I’d go to get away from it.”
So he did, on many a summer holiday and then permanently so he could raise his children in a place where they would not be judged on the basis of their surname.
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Fame has followed Klinsmann across the Atlantic. The spearhead of Germany’s attack in three World Cups, the manager who began the revival in Die Mannschaft’s fortunes now faces the fatherland. The focus of two countries will fall on Klinsmann.
Twenty-four million Americans tuned in for the 2-2 draw against Portugal; more than 150,000 World Cup tickets were sold to Americans; only Brazilians bought more. The US fans have formed one of the loudest and largest bands of travelling fans in Brazil. Back home, some of the images of the tournament have been provided in Illinois.
Chicago’s Grant Park, better known as the site of Barack Obama’s victory speech after winning the presidency in 2008, has hosted 20,000 fans, with still more unable to get in, to watch the 2-1 win over Ghana and the Portugal game on big screens.
Klinsmania, a phenomenon in Germany in 1990 and 2006, is showing signs of breaking out in the US.
It will increase if they avoid defeat when his New World meets his Old on Thursday. A reunion with Germany would always have been intriguing; Klinsmann served his native country in four World Cups, scoring 11 goals.
It is all the more interesting as the attack-minded, enterprising German side is a modern creation. It is Klinsmann’s legacy, the product of an identity change during his two-year reign from 2004, culminating in an unexpected appearance in the 2006 semi-finals. Controversially, he commuted from California; years on, however, he looks far-sighted.
Four of the Klinsmann generation have reached a century of caps. Two, captain Philipp Lahm and Per Mertesacker, should start. Two more, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Lukas Podolski, may figure from the bench. The clearest link, however, lies in his assistant-turned-successor Joachim Loew.
The reality that a point apiece would send through both Germany and the US from this toughest of groups has raised the spectre of a second “Anschluss”, the infamous Spain 1982 match between neighbours West Germany and Austria, who seemingly colluded to produce a 1-0 victory for the Germans and sent both forward at the expense of Algeria.
Klinsmann has dismissed such suggestions and will have no contact with Loew. “There’s no time right now to have friendship calls,” he said in a news conference. “It’s about business now.”
Indeed, the US have been very business-like, albeit in their usual way.
“The United States are known to give everything they have in every game,” Klinsmann said. “We have that fighting spirit.” Hugely committed, physically strong and well organised, they are a typical American team.
And this, perhaps, is the surprise. Klinsmann revolutionised Germany’s style of play but not yet done so in the US. Klinsmann’s Californian cool was more appealing to the US Soccer Federation than his predecessor Bob Bradley’s mid-America work ethic but this is a team with familiar strengths.
Individually, they may be the least-gifted squad in the group but their collective power brought victory against Ghana while they were seconds away from defeating Portugal.
The major change has been in the personnel. Klinsmann’s decision to discard the US record scorer Landon Donovan divided opinions. So, too, his preference for Germans with American heritage.
There are five in the American squad; one of them, Jermaine Jones, won three caps for Germany before switching allegiance. He scored against Portugal, just as the Berlin-born John Brooks got the winner against Ghana. Hoffenheim’s right-back Fabian Johnson has excelled in both matches.
Yet each should be obscured as one man with split allegiances will be the subject of two nations’ attention today: Klinsmann.
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