Erik Kirschbaum “Soccer Without Borders” (Picador, 2016)
The first thing that needs to be established is what exactly
is this book? Personally I was expecting an examination of Klinsmann as coach,
with some engagement of the various controversies that have happened in Germany
& the US. That’s not really what
this book is.
Erik Kirschbaum is an American journalist who has lived and
worked in Germany for some years. The combination of those factors has allowed
him to have a friendship with Klinsmann, and to get his perspective on quite a
few things. So this book ends up being
more of an authorized biography than any real sort of critical examination of
Klinsmann as a coach.
Kirschbaum goes a good job of telling the story of Jurgen
Klinsmann as a player who then moves on to multiple high profile coaching
jobs. Along the way, the story itself
shows why Klinsmann has certain preferences and biases. I felt that I also
learned quite a bit about the history of the Bundesliga and the overall structure
of German sport.
The shortcoming of Soccer
Without Borders is in the book’s refusal to truly engage with any of the
controversies in Klinsmann’s coaching career.
For example, while there is a (very short) chapter on Landon Donovan
& his exclusion from the World Cup squad, there’s no real engagement with
the issue. Now I don’t expect that a
book that is so clearly a functional mouthpiece for Klinsmann to be critical of
his decisions. But we aren’t even given
Klinsmann’s side of the story. We are
left with a brief overview of the situation, and a sense that some people were
upset that Donovan was omitted from the squad.
That’s a consistent pattern once the book gets to Klinsmann
as coach. Certain controversies will be
acknowledged as existing, but never really explained.
I’d say that Soccer
Without Borders is for newer USMNT fans who want to know about the
background of our charismatic German coach.
It does a great job of giving insight into Jurgen Klinsmann’s history
and motivations.
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