 Klinsmann hopes his side gels at this summer's World Cup |
Germany coach Jurgen Klinsmann says he would love to emulate Franz Beckenbauer and lift the World Cup as both a player and manager. Klinsmann told Match of the Day: "It would be a dream come true, not only for me, but for the entire country.
"A World Cup in your own country doesn't happen very often, so we want to grab that opportunity.
"We just want to show the whole country that we gave everything we had. That's the most important thing."
Despite hosting the World Cup, the three-time winners are not among most experts' favourites to lift the trophy on 9 July.
Klinsmann understands Germany's status as underdogs, but is confident his team have the quality to do very well.
He said: "There are bigger nations right now, teams better than us quality wise. We know that. We have a team that just grew in the last two years.
"So there is a big question mark over the side. But that's ok, that's no problem, we don't need to be one of the favourites.
"We're forming a team that's a good mixture of experienced players and a lot of very young players. We're very positive since we have the fans behind us, and we believe we can do well in this World Cup.
"The whole country is pumped up!"
Germany get their World Cup campaign under way on Friday when they host Costa Rica at the Allianz Arena in Munich - watch the game live on BBC ONE from 1600 BST.