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Jonathan Klinsmann trains with Stuttgart academy

Jonathan Klinsmann trains

By TATE STEINLAGE 

Jonathan Klinsmann has had a taste of German soccer.

The 17-year-old goalkeeper recently trained with the Stuttgart youth academy in Germany in preparations for a trip to the Czech Republic with the U-18 U.S. Men’s National Team to compete in the 21st International Tournament of Vaclav Jezek. 

The short stint with Stuttgart ended Thursday, according to the club. Klinsmann was just one of eight U-18 National Team players training in Europe, including FC Dallas forward Coy Craft, who joined Klinsmann at Stuttgart.

“I relished my time in Stuttgart,” Klinsmann told German newspaper BILD. “Of course, playing in the Bundesliga someday would be a dream.”

Klinsmann’s father — Jurgen — played at Stuttgart from 1984 to 1989. He told BILD the training was a positive experience: “The kids should train at the highest level — that’s a huge experience for them. I received only positive feedback.

“I am very thankful that Stuttgart enabled them to train with them,” Jurgen Klinsmann added. 

The U-18 tournament in the Czech Republic runs from Aug. 14-24. The U.S. team includes Klinsmann and Coy, along with Real Salt Lake homegrown midfielder Sebastian Saucedo among others. 

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What do you make of Jonathan Klinsmann’s time in Germany? Do you see the U-18 National Team benefitting from the experience?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

    • HAHAHAHAHA JONATHAN HAHAHAH IS A SNOBBY TWIT AND A DULL BULB I DIDN’T EVEN NOTICE UNTIL MY PHONE NOTIFIED ME 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 HAHA

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  1. Every time I hear this this kids name I have the same question. Is he really good enough to be in the NAT youth program or is daddy pulling strings? I also agree with other posters in that JK thumbs his nose at the college route ….. except for his own kid. Maybe he knows he’s not good enough and college is a good backup plan

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    • “Every time I hear this this kids name I have the same question. Is he really good enough to be in the NAT youth program or is daddy pulling strings? ”

      Reminds me of Bob and Mikey Bradley.

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    • So it sounds like you’ve answered your own question…. if not then have a look at GW’s comment above and remember that alarm bells ALWAYS go off when the coach’s boy does anything. We should get excited by this as far as I’m concerned— at this level, it’s pretty hard to hide mediocrity.

      Really… why does everybody worry so much about Jonathan Klinsmann? Any look he will ever have at the senior USMNT is miles down the road, well beyond Klinsmann Sr.’s tenure as coach. If he makes it to that level, it will be because he is THAT good. No chance of him ruining a World Cup, Gold Cup, anything…. this isn’t AYSO all-stars.

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      • Johnathan Klinsmann serves is an easier target for those angry with JK over the exclusion of Donovan.

        They have decided to wage all out warfare on JK and the first rule of that is all targets are fair game.

        Jonathan is what you call a “soft target” unprotected, naive and easy to hit.

    • Someone in a previous post noted that being a keeper, taking the college route for an American kid is a different story all together. When you graduate you are about 22 and that is an age when most keepers everywhere are just beginning to learn their trade.

      In fact, Jonathan is on a similar path as Kasey Keller and Brad Friedel and if he gets anywhere near as good as those two he will have done just fine.

      It would probably have been very different if Jonathan was an outfield player.

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  2. So he’s committed to Cal Berkley? Did Big Daddy “K” not encourage him to test himself and improve his game and play at the highest level…to play among Europe’s elite in the Champions League?

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    • Maybe NCAA is a really high level stretch for Junior.

      Or it’s easy to tell others to mortgage your entire future to take a chance at becoming a pro, but for your own child, having an education to fall back on is pretty important.

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      • Might you consider backing up that allegation with some links? You make Baghdad Bob look sane by comparison.

      • “When it comes to soccer, however, Klinsmann remains European in his outlook. He bemoans the frequent loss of top young players in America to other sports like baseball or lacrosse. He believes the N.C.A.A. is killing the talent pool in the United States because teenage stars go to college and miss out on formative years of training with professional teams. ”
        From NY timeshttp://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/08/magazine/how-jurgen-klinsmann-plans-to-make-us-soccer-better-and-less-american.html?_r=0

        There is part of Klinsmann that appears to bask in belittling all that has come before him with US Soccer. He has made his disdain for US college soccer and his disregard for the domestic professional product, Major League Soccer, quite clear. – From Boston Globe http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2014/06/12/jurgen-klinsmann-frankness-not-setting-good-tone-for-soccer/Emux3JjTTxvF4pp9UPp37O/story.html
        “You are the only country in the world that has the pyramid upside-down,” he said in his post mortem on the US’s World Cup exit against Ghana. “You pay for having your kid play soccer because your goal is not that your kid becomes a professional soccer player – because your goal is that your kid gets a scholarship in a high school or in a college, which is completely opposite from the rest of the world.” – Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/usa/10941624/World-Cup-2014-Jurgen-Klinsmanns-next-task-should-be-to-smash-the-American-system.html

      • forget his tweet for a moment, Jr. might be smarter than Jurgen… in that he sees the value and experience of doing the American college thing where you go away for 4 yrs…. for all we know, his mom might even be on his side supporting him going UCBerkley….

        I really dont see Jurgen being hypocrite when it comes to his kid choosing college.

  3. Klinsmann was just one of eight U-18 National Team players training in Europe, including FC Dallas forward Coy Craft, who joined Klinsmann at Stuttgart.

    Weird headline.

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  4. A guy who scouts say shouldn’t be on the Nats and has no real pro future…Euro scouts mind you, and now this.
    It’s good to have a daddy in high place. No wonder he responded like he did. That’s what entitlement does.

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  5. Was he born in the USA or did Jurgen get citizenship and that makes him eligible for the USMNT? I’m just trying to figure out the connection and why he can play for us.

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  6. I think there should just be one mandatory “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!” comment on every Jonathan Klinsmann post. Then we can leave it at that.

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  7. Just have to say…majority of us would be in for a rough life if we had to live with all the dumb things we did let alone said (tweeted online) as 16-18 yr olds…give the kid a break guys, he made an insensitive and downright idiotic statement, welcome to the club with the rest of society.

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    • Agree. We all said dumb stuff to try and be cool to our friends at that age. We were just lucky that all this social media didn’t exist then so those remarks didn’t follow us in to adulthood.

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    • +1. It would be a total disaster for me. I was disciplined at the grade school, high school, and (somehow) college levels for making insensitive remarks about people. But it was all a slap on the wrist and eventually I got the message and am better for it. Jonathan has had way worse punishment already. Let it go. It’s a kid.

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  8. How long is this guy going to wear that tweet about Donovan? I figure it will be until he becomes a pro and starts making a name for himself. Until then he will probably be known primarily by his infamous tweet.

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    • He’s got it for the rest of his career. You’re the son of the National team manager who just cut the most decorated player in our country’s history and you’re laughing at it.

      Imagine Derek Jeter was cut by the Yankees this last offseason and Joe Girardi’s kid made the same tweet.

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      • Why am I imagining baseball on a soccer site? Why don’t I just imagine that an until-now unknown teenager, who happened to be the coach’s son, disrespected a national soccer icon? That’s easy enough to imagine.

        It’s also easy to imagine myself and others moving on from his stupid decision—assuming he doesn’t repeat it—and letting him grow up. (And if he repeats it, then I’ll actually focus on the stupid decision to repeat it, not on the original decision.)

      • He was a stupid and arrogant kid – and I have no problem forgiving him. But its too soon – good luck to him I’ll check in a year from now.

      • KingGoogleyEye,

        That is the best interpretation of this situation. I really hope no one holds what I did at 17 against me. I would like to think I am a much better person now.

      • Isn’t he already a better person than you? Or you’re using a higher standard where he’s concerned?

      • That Guy,

        Jonathon Klinsmann pays for his comments .

        You, like all of us, remain comfortably anonymous. That may not make him a better person than you but it does mean he is being held accountable for his comments in a way you never will be.

        When you are put under that kind of pressure and scrutiny let us all know so we can judge your worthiness too.

  9. “HAHAHAHAHAHA KLINSMANN HAHAHAHAA I DIDNT EVEN NOTICE HE HAD TO USE HIS DADDY’S CONNECTIONS TO GET A TRAINING STINT UNTIL MY PHONE NOTIFIED ME.”

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      • I find it funny Jurgen’s son committed to play soccer at an American University. Klinsmann always talks about how the US system is broken, and you can’t have kids from 18-22 playing at a University. Along with all of his push yourself in Europe talk, yet it is OK for his son to go the College route? More of undying hypocrisy.

      • You’re conflating multiple issues, and attributing to Klinsmann things he didn’t even say. Hey, you don’t like the guy, there’s enough facts to support your dislike, but don’t make stuff up when it can be easily proven to be false.

      • It was also okay for his son to play high school soccer and USSDA Soccer when Klinsmann and US soccer say USSDA players cannot play high school. And str8jacket Klinsmann has absolutely said those things, and others, criticizing college soccer.

      • JK jr. is not a field player…. as goalkeeper his development wont rot in college, he wont be wasting time either… with a few world class exceptions, most GK start making noise around the age of 23-25.

      • I find it funny Jurgen’s son committed to play soccer at an American University. Klinsmann always talks about how the US system is broken, and you can’t have kids from 18-22 playing at a University. Along with all of his push yourself in Europe talk, yet it is OK for his son to go the College route? More of his undying hypocrisy.

      • Maybe the kid isn’t good enough right now for Europe and college in America is his best option. What JK wants for the very best prospects and the quality of his son’s play are two different things.

  10. What do you make of Klinsmann Jr.’s time in Germany?
    Do you see the U-18 National Team benefitting from the experience?

    1. I don’t care.
    2. I don’t care.

    Can we put a 6-8 month embargo on Jonathan Klinsmann stories or at least until Donovan retires?

    Reply
      • Like Mr. I Quit Wait Maybe I Don’t (right before the World Cup no less) didn’t help bring his fate upon himself.

        Young JK’s failure is Respect for Elders (and the fact he may be seen as speaking for his family).

        You believe for a second his trajectory is being affected by his comments? He’s JK the Elder’s son, training at Stuttgart, playing for an important YNT. And his dad is the top boss whispering in the youth coaches’ ears who he likes.

        A more interesting youth NT development, to me, is Hyndman is first team at Fulham now, played 90 in the season opener.

      • Being a Fulham supporter, I can say that Hyndman played well and that is the opinion of most Fulham supporters in the UK also.

    • Big Men. Why don’t we rail on every stupid or regrettable thing a 17 or 18 yr old kid does. He did something stupid, he got publicly embrassed and punished. Move on! I think LD moved on from what they kid said (I actually don’t think he cared what the kid did – his beef was more with the father not choosing him).

      With the exception of EJ, I think most professional athletes deal with this public acrimony better than fans. When I played in college or I talked with guys I know who made it pro in other sports, for the most part, no one cared what the public thought/

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      • Sorry but the moment he went public with his stupidity he opened himself up to scrutiny. I’m glad he is playing but I for one won’t be following him – he needs to put his head down work hard and be a decent human being – people will come back around but its ok for fans to not want to do that too soon.

      • ” I for one won’t be following him ”

        Then why ar you reading this article and expending the effort to comment?

      • I’ll bite. I don’t give a crap about a junior keeper. Talk to me when he’s 28 or 30. I’m reading it now, because it’s obvious the kid is a punk and I think it’s fun to watch people try to argue that he isn’t. Bottom line, I’m not here for the articles, I’m here for the comments.

      • @Joe from Philly, but you’re here all the same. Bottom line… you care that he’s in the news, and you can’t stand it. You’re welcome, come again.

      • Or, like me, its a boring day at work and he would rather discuss your omnicent knowledge of what he cares about rather than code numbers.

        But what do I know?

      • we all watch when there is a car wreck. Some how people like Bieber are still in the news, and I listen in hoping to here he is going to prison, or is embarrassed. Jonathon falls in the same bucket. We all just want to know what he has done now so we can laught at him.

      • He was publicly criticized but how was he punished? He played in a US DA game the very next weekend after his tweets and played for the US U18s about two weeks after that. If I was in charge he would have been suspended for at least a few appearances – from both teams. When you consider what the average DA player has to do and/or give up to play in the Academy, it is troubling what this entitled brat gets away with. In addition to his disrespectful comments mocking the man who has contributed to the US MNT more than any other player, Jonathan got to play high school soccer and DA soccer. Hundreds of kids have to make the choice between thousands of $s in scholarship for a good education at a private school and DA soccer every year while this spoiled brat gets to do both. Klinsmann the elder and his off-spring obviously don’t have a conscience

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