FOOTBALL CAREER OF JURGEN KLINSMANN Club Career - National Team Career - Coach Career Home - Who's He? - Latest News - Photo Album - Guestbook NEWS of KLINSMANN: PRE-1997 LATEST NEWS - Archive: pre-1997 | 1998 | 1999-2001 | 2002-2003 | 2004-2005 | 2006 (Jan-May) | 2006 (Jun) | 2006 (July-Aug) 13 October 1997 Germany qualified for World Cup 98! Without Klinsmann, Sammer and some other key players, Germany played hard in order to win over Albania in Hanover. As a draw could bring the Germans to World Cup 98, the Germans had low scoring incentive and the first half ended 0-0. The Germans might have thought that they could keep the draw to the end of the match but unfortunately, Kohler scored an own goal in 55 minutes. Awakened by this own goal, the Germans netted back two goals from Helmer and Bierhoff. While it seemed that victory was secured, the loose defence of Germany gave a chance to Albania to score one goal back making it 2-2. At 86 miniutes, Marschall put the Germans ahead but his effort was then cancelled by an equaliser from Albania two minutes after. Now, it was 3-3. Dramatic things always happened to the Germany and lucky player Bierhoff fired the final goal in the match for Germany in the last minute of the game. Finally, Germany won Albania by 4-3 and qualified for the World Cup in France. Meanwhile, Ukraine beat Armenia 2-0 and finished the second in Group 9. Below is the table for Group 9. Team P W D L F A Pts Germany (qualified to World Cup 98 directly) 10 6 4 0 23 9 22 Ukraine (qualified to additional match) 10 6 2 2 10 6 20 Portugal 10 5 4 1 12 4 19 Armenia 10 1 5 4 8 17 8 Northern Ireland 10 1 4 5 6 10 7 Albania 10 1 1 8 7 20 4 26 September 1997 Klinsmann injured at Sampdoria Klinsmann was injured during training at Sampdoria. It is believed that he has to rest for at least a month in order to recover. Because of this injury, Klinsmann will miss the World Cup Qualifing Match between Germany and Albania in November. 10 September 1997 Match report of Germany vs Armenia 4-0 Finally, Klinsmann SCORED!! Klinsmann ended his horrible goalless period of his international football career (854 minutes) by netting twice in the last 20 minutes of this game. Klinsmann's goal resulted in a great victory of 4-0 against Armenia. Hassler and Kirsten scored the other 2 goals. Klinsmann scored again! 10 September 1997 Klinsmann: I will score soon In relation to his goal drought and calls for him to be dropped out from the national squad, Klinsmann replied to the press with confidence: "I've never had such a dry spell in the national team before, but except for Tottenham it happened at every other club I've played for too." "I have self-confidence. Every forward goes through a period like this." 6 September 1997 Match report of Germany vs Portugal 1-1 Klinsmann's "goal drought" continued as he was not able to score in this World Cup qualifying match against Portugal. Bierhoff scored a goal for the Germans which earned them a point in this 1-1 draw. 20 August 1997 Match report of Northern Ireland vs Germany 1-3 This was a hard game for Germany. The first half ended goalless due to the tough and disciplined defence of Northern Ireland which rendered the attack of Germany harmless. What was even worst was in the second half, Micheal Hughes scored the leading goal for Northern Ireland from a counter attack. The game turned in favour of the Germans when Vogts substituted Woerns and Kirsten with Hassler and Bierhoff. These substitutions worked remarkably. Within 7 minutes, Bierhoff scored a hat-trick which secured German's victory. In the end, Germany won by 3-1. Bierhoff, once again, became the hero of Germany, while Klinsmann's absence from the score list meant he was goalless for more than 600 minutes of international match. Media began to cast doubt on Klinsmann's scoring ability. 7 June 1997 Match report of Ukraine vs Germany 0-0 Group leaders Ukraine held European champions Germany to a scoreless draw in their World Cup European group 9 qualifier. Dynamo Kyiv striker Serhiy Rebrov had the best chance for the home team but his powerful shot from about 16 metres hit a post just before halftime. The Germans started well but settled down after 10 minutes and rarely threatened Ukraine's goal. A Juergen Klinsmann header in the first half, which went wide, and a Thomas Helmer long range effort which was saved in the second accounted for the Germans' main offensive opportunities. The Germans, still odds on favorites to win the group after a comfortable 2-0 win over Ukraine in Bremen in April, seemed content to sit back and make do with a point away from home. Klinsmann and Kirsten, Germany's upfront duo, were given little room for manoevre and did little to worry a well-organised back line based around players from Ukrainian champions Dynamo Kyiv. Klinsmann after missing a header in the first half Dmytrulin (right) takes the ball away from Klinsmann 3 April 1997 Klinsmann will end his international career Klinsmann confirmed he will end his international career after the 1998 World Cup in France. 22 May 1995 Klinsmann's first performance in Hong Kong! Klinsmann scored twice and led Tottenham Hotspur to a 7-2 victory over Eastern-Kitchee Select Team at the Hong Kong Stadium on 21 May 1995. Eastern/Kitchee's goals came from Paul Foster and Dale Tempest. This is probably the last game Klinsmann will play for Tottenham Hotspur as he is going to join Bayern Munich in the next season. When asked about his future, Klinsmann said "I have played in Italy, France and England for six seasons without winning one ... I would like to end my career with the World Cup in 1998, but first there's the European Championship (next year)." Klinsmann arrived in Hong Kong on 19 May 1995 (Friday) and was immediately mobbed by scores of young fans. (Source: SCMP) Klinsmann playing against Eastern-Kitchee Select Team This homepage is created by Gary Chow (Hong Kong) and best viewed with Mozilla Firefox | |