Beckham: 'Strong' Klinsmann a plus

Posted Saturday, August 06, 2011 by ESPN

David Beckham was asked following the Galaxy's traning session Friday morning what kind of impact he thought German great Juergen Klinsmann would have as U.S. national team coach.

“I think he'll have a very good one,” said the English midfielder, who played in the first of his three World Cups at France '98, the last of Klinsmann's trio. “I think he's got the experience, he'll have the respect from the players.

“I'm sure if there's any problems throughout the team, there won't be anymore, because I think that he's a strong manager, I think he's a strong person, a strong personality. And he's a manager and a player that's done everything in a soccer player's career. So he's got that respect.

“Good luck to him. I hope he's very successful with the U.S. team, because there's some good players.”

Klinsmann will make his debut as U.S. coach Wednesday in Philadelphia in a friendly against Mexico.

The Huntington Beach resident scored 47 goals in 108 international appearances with Germany, two of the strikes against the U.S.: in Germany's 4-3 triumph at Chicago in a U.S. Cup exhibition in June 1993 and in a 1998 World Cup opener in Paris, a 2-0 German victory. He was the first player to score in three different World Cups and netted 11 in the 1990, 1994 and 1998 tournaments, a total bettered only by Germans Gerd Müller and Miroslav Klose, who each scored 14.