Sven-Goran Eriksson might have a habit of sneaking away 10 minutes before the end but at least he goes to Premiership matches and lives in England. Should Germany be anything like as bad in this World Cup as it was in Euro 2004, fans who currently protest about his base in California will rant that Jurgen Klinsmann should never be allowed to leave it again.

Though his citizenship is not yet being revoked, solidarity with him is tenuous. His invention of himself as a quasi-chief executive with a bunch of underlings to control specific areas of the national team could soon be exposed as the scam of a person without the talent or qualifications for the job.

Not an easy post

Klinsmann's taste for slogans smacks of gee-whizzery, but he has to try something different. The mere thought of this post is debilitating and Ottmar Hitzfeld, frazzled from his service to Bayern Munich, refused to accept it. The vacancy was therefore filled by someone with few obvious credentials just when the mission was tougher than ever.

No one speaks any more of Germany grinding out results since it has come to look fragile over the past few years. Starting with last summer's Confederations Cup, Klinsmann decided that the side might as well be enterprising and, peculiarly, he has not accommodated a holding player of Dietmar Hamann's calibre in the World Cup squad.

When Germany opens the competition against Costa Rica on Friday Torsten Frings will be in that position, although he owes it to Klinsmann's decision that pace is the essential attribute for his line-up. It may well be that football fans around the World will have to grapple with the idea of a flighty Germany, which lacks substance.

The positives

That reversal of all we have ever known does have its attractions. The best bits of his side are the attacking ones. Bastian Schweinsteiger has at least the intent to take on defenders and he will be joined by Lukas Podolski, the intriguing young forward who has moved over to Bayern Munich from his hometown club Cologne.

None the less, Kilnsmann appears to be sending out a brittle Germany, typified by the inclusion of the injury-prone defender Christoph Metzelder. Jens Lehmann fully merits his elevation over Oliver Kahn as goalkeeper, yet the quality that most appealed to Klinsmann and his backroom staff is ominous. They felt that his eagerness to rush out of the goalmouth and even the penalty area to deal with danger would be valuable. That betrays their fear that the back four cannot cope by itself.

On the decline

In truth, the emphasis on Klinsmann's views in Germany diverts attention from deeper problems.

The national team has been foundering since long before his arrival. An appearance in the 2002 World Cup final, for instance, obscured the fact that the United States ought to have eliminated it in the last eight.

The knockout phase really could be fatal this month. Pleasure over an easy group that contains Ecuador, Costa Rica and Poland was quashed as soon as people noticed that Germany was likely to move straight into a fixture with either England or Sweden that might spoil its party.

Klinsmann happens to be in power during a peculiar period. German football used to be about pragmatism, pride, endeavour and expertise at tournaments. At present, however, there is a Bundesliga that is wildly popular yet geared purely for domestic consumption.

Diplomatic though Owen Hargreaves is, the English star appears to consider himself to be in a backwater at Bayern Munich. It has done the double for two years in a row but the rest of the continent treats it as a dwindling presence in the Champions League.

Big names missing

The Bundesliga has a bracing contempt for the sums expended in England, Spain or Italy yet that practicality, along with the limitations that cheap ticket prices impose on revenue, means that great names are not on show in Germany.

The romantics can point to an upsurge of good young players, with Podolski and Schweinsteiger joined by Philipp Lahm in Klinsmann's squad. The coach surely cannot win the World Cup but he has to do well enough to buy time and spare German football from traumatic disillusionment.

- Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

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