Germany ‘pampered’ for success, says Vogts

BERLIN: Germany have never been so well prepared to win the World Cup, according to former coaches Jurgen Klinsmann and Berti Vogts, who are now working with rivals the United States.

Vogts told the daily Bild in an interview published on Wednesday that the German national team “have never been so pampered” by the German federation.

Vogts, who won the World Cup as a player in 1974 and was coach when Germany won the European Championship in 1996, said Germany currently have a “super” team and have “never had so many players so well prepared technically and tactically”.

Vogts is technical advisor to Klinsmann, who has been the US national coach since 2011. The United States will be in the same Group G as Joachim Loew’s Germany, Portugal and Ghana at the fi nals in Brazil.

Klinsmann told Bild that he and Vogts still hoped that Germany win the title, but added: “Of course we want to beat Germany to pull off a sensation. But we think they will already be qualified before our meeting in the last match of the group.

“Berti’s generation won the cup in 1974 and mine in 1990. The current generation must follow on,” Klinsmann said.

Germany wi l l start their campaign against Portugal in Salvador on June 16 before facing Ghana in Fortaleza on June 21 and the United States in Recife on June 26. — AFP