Ice-cool Klinsmann dashes Kahn's hopes

The best player from the last FIFA World Cup™ is set to miss this year's tournament after Germany's Jurgen Klinsmann proved he could be as ruthless a coach as he was a finisher.
Oliver Kahn, the bellowing Bayern Munich keeper who touched greatness in Korea/Japan in 2002, learned on Friday he had lost his status as Germany's number one to Jens Lehmann.
Bayern had been urging Klinsmann to make a decision between the two 36-year-olds and they were clearly expecting the coach to ratify their man as the country's number one.
Klinsmann has had to deal with fierce criticism from the German soccer establishment as the national team's form has dipped this year but the 41-year-old coaching novice showed he could not be intimidated as he opted instead for Lehmann.
"Bayern wanted the decision brought forward, and so we reacted," said the ice-cool Klinsmann, a World Cup-winning striker in 1990.
It cannot have been easy to look Kahn in the eye and inform him of the decision. Kahn was the captain of the Germany team that reached the FIFA World Cup final in 2002 and, along with midfielder Michael Ballack, its inspiration.
He conceded just one goal before the final and became the first goalkeeper to win FIFA's Golden Ball award for best player, despite a mistake that led to Brazil's first goal in the decisive game.
Kahn became Germany's number one in 1998 following the retirement of Andreas Koepke. Always an intimidating presence, he proved he had reflexes and agility to match in what was his first experience of playing in a FIFA World Cup.
"He is making himself immortal at this tournament," said Sepp Maier, who was Germany's goalkeeping coach and a member of the 1974 World Cup-winning side. Unfortunately for Kahn, the blunder in the final was followed by a series of mistakes for club and country.
The situation was not helped by a daily diet of press reports into his messy personal life, as he got involved with a much younger woman while his wife was pregnant.
Lehmann went public with his criticism of Kahn in 2004, claiming he was the better player and deserved to be the number one for the UEFA European Championship in Portugal.
"I didn't know we were supposed to talk," Lehmann said when asked if the two men did not get on. "I have a different life. I don't have a 24-year-old girlfriend."
Kahn accused Lehmann of sinking as low as he could with such comments. The senior man kept his place for EURO 2004 but it proved to be just the start of a feud that has carried on for two years, and ended in victory for Lehmann on Friday.
One of Klinsmann's first acts on taking over as coach in 2004 was to strip Kahn of the captaincy and warn him to expect a concerted challenge from Lehmann.
Kahn's form picked up from the start of 2005 on but recently the mistakes have crept back into his game and an error of judgment gave the United States their consolation goal in last month's 4-1 win in Dortmund.
With Lehmann performing faultlessly for Arsenal in their run to the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League, that mistake was the final straw.
"We talked about both goalkeepers in great detail and a lot of aspects and it was always a very close race," Klinsmann explained.
"A year ago, in August, Oliver was slightly ahead. Then we continued our discussion and we realised that Jens had gained a lot of ground over the past months in that last season and is now that little bit ahead of Oliver."
German Football Association co-president Theo Zwanziger made a public appeal to Kahn not to call time on his international career just yet, and instead make himself available for the FIFA World Cup.
"I'll think over my international future in the coming weeks," was all Kahn would say on Friday.
Germany's young team could certainly do with such an experienced figure in their midst and such a loud voice cheering them on. It is just hard to see Kahn accepting a secondary role after his heroics four years ago.