2. USA: German press reports "details" of Klinsmann "deal"

• by Soccer America , Oct 30, 2006

German newspaper Bild am Sonntag reported on Sunday that Juergen Klinsmann is close to signing a contract with U.S. Soccer through 2010 that the tabloid speculated would be worth $3.18 million per year. The report claimed that Klinsmann would employ as assistant coach Columbus Crew coach Sigi Schmid. Bild am Sontag also said Klinsmann, besides heading the U.S. national team, would be responsible for the Olympic (U-23) team and the youth national teams, and that he would use five or six former U.S. internationals to coach the youth teams. Klinsmann's two-year tenure as Germany coach culminated in a third-place finish at last summer's World Cup. It was his first coaching experience.

U.S. Soccer's response to the Bild am Sonntag report was that it has narrowed the head-coach search down to four or five people.

U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati will provide an update on the search in a Monday press conference that will also address the U.S. national team's acceptance of an invitation to play in the 2007 Copa America, the South American championship that invites out-of-region teams and in which the USA participated twice, in 1993 and 1995, when it finished fourth under then interim coach Steve Sampson.