BERLIN, July 4, 2006 (AFP) – World Cup organising committee head and former world champion both as player and coach Franz Beckenbauer said Tuesday Jurgen Klinsmann should remain as German coach despite their 2-0 defeat by Italy in the World Cup semi-final in the dying minutes of extra-time.
"I think our team played really well. It was Italian cleverness which sent them through," Beckenbauer told German television.
"I hope Jurgen Klinsmann carries on. He has a young team which he has moulded in his image. The young players trust him and it would be a pity if we lost that. I hope Jurgen carries on.
"We gave a good account of ourselves and today’s defeat can’t change that," added 60-year-old Beckenbauer, World Cup winner with West Germany in 1974 and then coach to the winning side in 1990.
