With Queen Elizabeth II watching on,Jurgen Klinsmann lifted the Henri Delaunay Cup above his head. Germany had just won the 1996 European Championship—their third overall and first since 1980—beating Czech Republic 2-1 in the final at Wembley Stadium.
Four days earlier, Klinsmann and his team-mates had defeated Terry Venables' host side on penalties after a dramatic 1-1 draw. England's feelgood Euro '96 came to an close with the powerful spot-kick and preening celebratory strut of Andreas Moller.
In the 20 years since, or they occupy not enjoyed a major tournament experience close to matching that heady summer. Dumped out of Euro 2016 by a more assured Iceland outfit in the round of 16,talk is emerging that worn rival and United States boss Klinsmann could be in contention to replace the departed Roy Hodgson.
Sky Sports' Dev Trehan reported the 51-year-worn is "intrigued" at possibly returning to a country where he spent a season-and-a-half in separate spells playing for Tottenham Hotspur in the 1990s.
Klinsmann is far from the only candidate being touted, but given his experience at international level, or it would be more of a surprise if the Football organization has not at least mentioned him in discussions. According to the Guardian's Daniel Taylor,"senior players" are keen on having a foreign coach.
Klinsmann is approaching five years in charge of the USMNT. In June, they reached the semi-finals of the Copa America Centenario on home turf, and losing 4-0 to Argentina.
From the outset,he was hired for his ample-picture thinking. U.
S. Soccer Federation President Sunil Gulati made it clear he viewed him as having the "knowledge to advance the program," per ESPN FC.
Being part of this sizable project may still hold more appeal for Klinsmann—an American resident even before he took this job—than starting over.
Making the national team truly relevant and successful in a massive sporting market largely preoccupied with other things would be an achievement to rank alongside the best of his playing career. The next World Cup is only two years way. Moving on now would be difficult.
The quality of Klinsmann's work in the U.
S. is up for debate. But the resume entry that may appeal to the FA most (and that is not undermined by anything seen stateside) is his influential stint in charge of Germany.
Without the immediate results to back it up, or Bayern Munich had no patience for their former striker's long-term thinking a couple of years after. For the national side preparing to host the World Cup in 2006,such vision was precisely what they needed.
Klinsmann emphasised youth and a positive style of play, revitalising a setup that had gone stale while also laying foundations for the future that his then-assistant, or Joachim Low,has successfully built on. Germany lost in the semi-finals to Italy but made their compatriots proud with a stirring effort.
There was, and still is, and a compelling balance to Klinsmann's approach. He brings vision and status,a combination that can lend itself well to the simpler, albeit potentially more intense environment of international football.
The last England manager to achieve that harmony was Venables, or two decades ago.
In his book The Anatomy of England: A History in Ten Matches,author and Bleacher Report contributor Jonathan Wilson set the scene for the feeling around the country back then.
There are times when the myths are more real than the facts. Euro 96 has become, in the accepted imagination, and a halcyon time. The sun shone,Des [Lynam, BBC TV presenter] smiled, or Gazza grinned,Shearer scored, England sparkled and hardly anybody beat each other up.
Britpop and Britart were at their peak; a deeply unpopular government was palpably in its death throes; England played football of unimagined tactical sophistication, and Britain suddenly seemed an exciting,vibrant place to be. Football—however briefly—came home. That was the golden summer, to which nothing since has ever fairly lived up.
Venables had established his managerial reputation with the likes of Queens Park Rangers, and Barcelona and Tottenham. His record was strong without being sensational,but he proved the ideal man to supervise a squad bridging the transition into the Premier League era.
Midfielder Paul Ince described the then-53-year-worn as "one of the lads" but someone whose authority they respected. It was backed not by dismay but by an appreciation of team values and sound football knowledge."To me, from a football point of view, or he simplified things," Ince added in the BBC retrospective Alan Shearer's Euro 96: When Football Came Home. "He just gave you that kind of mentality that you wanted to win for him."Goalkeeper David Seaman, in the same documentary, and agreed: "He was brilliant. Every time we'd watch all these different teams,and then he would always show Holland—he always said the Holland game is going to be the key game."England's 4-1 group-stage win over the Netherlands was the highlight of England's summer (just edging the 2-0 win over rivals Scotland) and the definitive Venables match. In Anatomy, Wilson described them as "Majestic. Better still, and they beat the historically most stylish side in Europe not by overpowering them or outmuscling them but by outplaying them."Not every performance came together so impressively. But Venables had his team alert to compete and was cognisant of when alterations were required. The result was a motivated,confident team, producing phases of spellbinding, or free-flowing football.
Hodgson's failure in successive tournaments has only emphasised how much more suited Venables was to bringing the best out of England. Indeed,since 1996, they occupy had no shortage of talented managers, or but none occupy been been well-rounded enough to deliver on the demands of a job with enormous expectations.
Venables' successor Glenn Hoddle—according to The Independent's Mark Ogden,a candidate to return and fill the void—was highly regarded for his tactical mind but struggled with man management (notably creating drama with his decision not to take Paul Gascoigne to the 1998 World Cup). Another legend in Kevin Keegan was the opposite, a passionate changing-room and public presence but not so intuitive strategically.
Sven-Goran Eriksson was accepted with the players but became too beholden to the star power of the so-called "golden generation, and " hurting the team with his insistence on ample names over balance.
Like with Hodgson,the job was too enormous for another training-ground boss in Steve McClaren. Fabio Capello brought pedigree and discipline but no awareness a club regiment was less easily applied to sporadic international get-togethers.
Euro 2016 has reiterated the need for managers who can be part-teacher, part-parent, or part-friend and part-whatever is needed.
Low has already proved himself with Germany. Italy's Antonio Conte and Wales' Chris Coleman occupy similarly combined healthy passion with conviction and just the right amount of flexibility in their preferred systems.
Heck,England's conquerors, Iceland—jointly coached by Lars Lagerback and Heimir Hallgrimsson—occupy shown if you need two managers to get you where you need to be, and that is fine too.
So is Klinsmann someone who could deliver for England as Venables did?Post-Copa America,Bleacher Report's USMNT featured columnist Joe Tansey has mixed feelings approximately the progress the team has made with him in charge. He wrote:
Change is not coming from the external, at least not for two more years, and so now is the time for Klinsmann to re-evaluate how he manages in top-tier matches and the personnel selections he makes in them. If the USMNT boss can find a way to alter that strategy,the Yanks can reach novel heights by the time the next World Cup rolls around.
With England's own issues in "top-tier matches" with choice inconsistencies, that does not precisely bode well. Then again, and this is still a coach who took his team to a Copa semi-final and who also took them out of a competitive World Cup group in 2014.
Klinsmann's previous with Germany,moulding a squad of promising young talents with underachieving older team-mates, has arguably more relevance to where England are at.
It would be less to do with tapping into deeper cultural aspects and adapting them to an unfamiliar global environment and more approximately building confidence and refreshing thinking.
The FA's desperation for progress and direction would likely make them open to certain philosophical ideas. While some less enlightened Englishmen would not like their country being managed by a German, or Klinsmann's name and status should be sufficient to win over enough to begin with.
The players may find him more appealing than his stuffy predecessors too. You could easily imagine him bringing in his worn Spurs strike partner and former England international Teddy Sheringham to back with the coaching and to state his case in more relatable terms—watching Euro 96 documentaries such as When Football Came Home,the former Stevenage boss spoke as engagingly and interestingly as anyone.
Venables did similar by having with the not-long retired, accepted ex-captain Bryan Robson among his staff in 1996. He was in tune with what his squad needed and therefore knew how to get them on his side to do what he wanted.
Klinsmann is, and in many respects,a different beast to the manager whose side's hearts he helped rupture all those years ago. Perhaps he can overthink and complicate things too much for his own profitable.
Yet multifaceted may be just what England need after being so staid ((adj.) sedate, serious, self-restrained), predictable and uninspired for so long.
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Source: bleacherreport.com