One of the great players of his generation, Klinsmann's coaching rep has taken a hit since 2006- the result of a tumultuous tenure at Bayern Munich, where the board jettisoned him after less than one season. But Klinsmann is still a managerial commodity who has drawn interest of late from English Premier League teams and might still have a chance to coach the U.S. someday.
Klinsmann spoke to Wahl on a variety of topics, from his attendance at the week-long leadership conference run by Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, to the USA's search for a style of play:
On the USA's style of play - "The U.S. is known worldwide as a melting pot. Soccer in a certain way transmits the culture of a country. It reflects so much about the people. ... It's going to be very interesting to see where U.S. soccer from an identity point of view will head to.
"It will be a mixture. You have the Latin influence. You have the cultural backbone of your university system, which is completely different from the rest of the world. You have the fact that it's mostly organized soccer, when we know that the best players in the world come out of unorganized events. I think it's a fascinating topic.
"It will be defined in the years down the road. You know about Brazil, but even Brazil goes through those discussions every day now with Dunga [as coach]. He has a more European approach that isn't the joga bonito. Argentina is always passing and creating out of nothing. Italy has always been about waiting until the opponent makes a mistake and then we kill you. So every country shows certain characteristics through the game of soccer."
On what he learned from Mike Krzyzewski - "You're constantly learning. Coach K is one of the most influential leaders coming from sports here in this country. When I got here I read most of his books, which I found highly interesting. My business partner went to Duke University, so we always had kind of an eye on that. By reading through all that material, I saw there was a lot of stuff you could use for the soccer environment as well. Leadership is about people in every environment. That seminar there was amazing because other business leaders gave presentations and examples of how they solved issues.
It was really impressive. We don't have those types of seminars in Germany. Not at that level, because our university system doesn't have the recognition it has in the United States, and it certainly doesn't have the connection to sports. The American system is completely different. You need to understand America and how it works in order to get that picture, and I have been lucky to live here 11 years and see a lot of places. Coach K is really good stuff for any coach in whatever sport he's in."
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