Jonathan Klinsmann saves penalty, gets 'A' from coach in European debut

• by Paul Kennedy  @pkedit, Dec 7, 2017

Jonathan Klinsmann, the former U.S. U-20 national team keeper, did not disappoint in his pro debut on Thursday, saving a late penalty kick to allow Hertha Berlin to tie Sweden's Ostersunds FK, 1-1, in its final Europa League group game.

Klinsmann, the son of former U.S. national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann, saved Ostersund captain Brwa Nouri's shot with diving stop to his left in the 87th minute. He also made an excellent save in the first half on Sotirios Papagiannopoulos.

All of Klinsmann's previous games with Hertha since leaving Cal, where he played two seasons, were with its second team in the amateur (fourth level) Regionalliga.

He got the start because the Hertha backup keeper, Thomas Kraft, was ill and the regular starter, Rune Jarstein, doesn't play Europa League games.

Hertha coach Pal Dardai gave Klinsmann an "A" for his play but tried to downplay Klinsmann's performance, saying it will be good for competition among the goalkeepers.

“He did well,” Dardai said. “He also gathered experience with the under-21 team, not always without mistakes, but he has stepped it up in training. The fitness coach has been working with him. But we don’t need to turn it into the Klinsmann show. We can talk a lot about him when the time comes.”