GERMANY COACH:
Juergen Klinsmann

One of Germany's all-time greats and a member of the 1990 World Cup championship team, Juergen Klinsmann took on the greatest challenge of his career in 2004 as coach of the German team. He replaced Rudi Voeller on July 26, 2004 although he had no actual coaching experience. Whether that will come back to haunt him and the German Football Federation remains to be seen.

No one, however, can dispute Klinsmann's hall of fame playing career. He scored 47 goals in 108 international appearances, winning a bronze medal in the 1988 Summer Olympics. He starred in three World Cups, playing a key role in Germany's 1990 championship team.

Born July 30, 1964, Klinsmann retired from international play after the 1998 World Cup. He also performed for the Euro 96 champions as well. At the club level, Klinsmann played for VfB Stuttgart and Bayern Munich in Germany, AS Monaco in France, Inter and Sampdoria in Italy, and twice at Tottenham Hotspur in England. Even though he had no pro coaching experience when he was hired, Klinsmann has demonstrated he can be a leader, and an influential one at that. But sometimes he can be obstinate -- very obstinate - i.e. refusing to live in Germany full-time in the months before the World Cup, opting instead to commute from southern California.

The jury is still out -- we will know by July 9 -- if that decision was good or bad for the German team, or for Klinsmann, for that matter. He also has been the vice president of a U.S.-based sports marketing consulting company.