Berlin, May 14:

Jurgen Klinsmann has been in charge of the German team for just 20 months but it must feel like a lot longer after the criticism he has encountered in the build-up to this summer’s World Cup finals. Klinsmann was a hero as a player after winning the 1990 World Cup with West Germany but the pressure of guiding the host nation to World Cup glory is starting to show.

The former Bayern Munich forward was never one to conform to the norm — in the mid-1990s he drove a Volkswagen Beetle while others were in a Porsche or Ferrari — and his managerial ideas have not gone down well in some quarters.

Immediately Klinsmann caused a stir with his decision to rotate goalkeepers Jens Lehmann and Oliver Kahn and his extravagant training methods were ridiculed in the media.

The knives also came out for Klinsmann over his decision to jet back and forth to his California home rather than stay in Germany. “I do not ask other people about their schedules. I am open to advice but it should be given straight to my face not via the media,” countered Klinsmann. “I am thinking about the development of the national team 24-7 whether I am in Germany, the United States or somewhere else.”

After a relatively successful Confederations Cup — Germany lost to Brazil in the semi-final — results went downhill and a 4-1 drubbing by Italy in March prompted German newspapers to label the national coach naive. “Franz Beckenbauer (head of the 2006 World Cup Organising Committee) advised me not to read any newspapers before the World Cup and I think I will do that,” explained Klinsmann.

In managerial terms Klinsmann is a novice and was working for his own sports marketing firm in the United States before his country came knocking.

Rudi Voller stepped down after the disastrous Euro 2004 finals and Germany chiefs approached former Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld and Greece manager Otto

Rehhagel but both snubbed the job.

Despite having no previous experience Klinsmann accepted the task and was welcomed with open arms. Klinsmann immediately set the target of lifting the World Cup in Berlin on July 9 and has stood by that aim after the draw pitted them against Costa Rica, Ecuador and Poland.

“We are at home and have a good group. If everything goes our way we can triumph,” Klinsmann said. “I am convinced that it will be a tremendous World Cup. We have already booked our hotel rooms in Berlin (for the final).”

If Klinsmann, 41, can find that underdog spirit and guide Germany to World Cup glory it would be the perfect answer to his critics and he would become only the third man to achieve the player-manager double.

Franz Beckenbauer achieved that feat with West Germany in 1974 and 1990 while Brazil’s Mario Zagallo won the trophy twice as a player, in 1958 and 1962, then as a manager in 1970.

German chiefs have tried to persuade Klinsmann to commit his future beyond the finals but he refused, claiming it all hinged on how the hosts performed at the World Cup. But the general opinion is that Klinsmann will quit when his contract expires after the finals and return to the United States.