By Kevin Fylan
GENEVA, May 23 - The laptop computers and American
fitness gurus at Germany's Swiss training camp cannot hide the
fact that coach Juergen Klinsmann is developing a conservative
streak.
Klinsmann took to the German job with a moderniser's zeal
when he replaced Rudi Voeller in 2004, importing a team of
fitness instructors from the U.S. and hiring a psychologist.
His squad for the Confederations Cup in Germany in 2005 was
packed full of promising youngsters and the signs were
encouraging, as the hosts lost a close semi-final to Brazil and
went on to win the third-place game.
Klinsmann has kept faith with most of those players but as
the World Cup has got nearer the coach has softened his approach
and turned to a series of old faces.
The inclusion of uncapped winger David Odonkor stole the
headlines when Klinsmann announced his squad last week but more
telling was the inclusion of Jens Nowotny.
The 32-year-old centre back last played at Euro 2004, as
Germany went out of the competition in a dispiriting defeat by a
weakened Czech Republic side.
Since then he has come through the latest of a series of
knee injuries and a legal battle with his club to earn the right
to play at his first World Cup.
Over the past few months, Klinsmann has also brought back
Christoph Metzelder and Sebastian Kehl, both veterans of the
last World Cup.
The coach has even resurrected the international career of
33-year-old forward Oliver Neuville and surprisingly kept a
place for Gerald Asamoah, another squad member from 2002.
There are still a whole bunch of players in their early 20s
in the squad -- including likely starters Bastian
Schweinsteiger, Lukas Podolski and Per Mertesacker -- but they
will be alongside many more familiar faces when the hosts line
up against Costa Rica in Munich on June 9.
"This squad is really not as young as people seem to think,"
Lehmann pointed out this week. "I play with a lot of 18- and
19-year-olds at Arsenal and that's a young team.
"This (German) team has a good mix of ages."