Klinsmann Way

BERLIN: The town where Germany’s coach grew up has named a street after him. Juergen Klinsmann is coach of the German team that faced Argentina in a tough World Cup quarterfinal on Friday. But the southwestern town of Geislingen saw no need to wait for him to deliver the trophy before honouring him. On Thursday, the new “Juergen-Klinsmann-Weg” street sign was unveiled on a street that runs alongside the local soccer team’s stadium, town spokeswoman Angela Rosenberger said. The young Klinsmann played for SC Geislingen in the mid-1970s. He was captain of the Germany team that won the 1990 WC final.

Poles apart

FRANKFURT: France falls well behind Brazil when it comes to national fervour for soccer. France striker Thierry Henry feels there is just no comparison between the two countries. “We don’t have the (soccer) identity. It’s different. Brazil is Brazil,” Henry said on Thursday, adding that Brazil are “ahead of us in terms of this”. “On the beach, they play football; on the street, they play football; in shopping malls, they play football; on the motorway, they stop to play football,” Henry said. “They play football since the day they are born.”

Bend it like Beckham

cologne: David Beckham loves proving his critics wrong, particularly using the favoUrite part of his game — free kicks. His curling free kick gave England a 1-0 win over Ecuador in the World Cup second round. Beckham said it was one of his most important goals after a constant stream of criticism from the British press and former England players. “Definitely,” he said. “It’s always nice when you have had a certain amount of criticism to score a goal that puts your country through to the quarter-finals.”

Goals wanted

BERLIN: Ronaldinho has finally admitted that he wouldn’t mind scoring at least once for Brazil during this World Cup. Only last week the midfielder — the only member of Brazil’s “magic quartet” who has yet to get on the board — said he was “not preoccupied” with his goal drought. But as Brazil prepares to face France in the quarter-finals, Ronaldinho seems to be warming to the idea of scoring. He maintains that his main priority is to “help my teammates score goals.”