California resident Juergen Klinsmann, who led host Germany to a surprisingly strong third-place finish at the 2006 World Cup, won’t stay on national team coach, according to reports in the German press.
Klinsmann, whose contract expired on Sunday, came in for heavy criticism for long periods of his tenure as national team coach because of his decision to continue to live in Huntington Beach, Calif., and his use of American coaching methods and American trainers, but that was all forgotten when Germany won six of its seven games at the World Cup. In one opinion poll, 93 percent of Germans wanted Klinsmann to stay on.
Assistant coach Joachim Loew, who handled most of the day-to-day responsibilities of coaching the national team, is expected to replace Klinsmann.
A decision on the new German national team coach needs to be made quickly. Germany plays a friendly against Sweden on Aug. 16 and starts Euro 2008 qualifying in September.
U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati last week denied reports that Klinsmann had been offered a lucrative offer to coach the USA.