FRANKFURT, May 23 - During his brief time as Germany coach Juergen Klinsmann has restored a sprit of adventure and a sense of self-belief to one of world soccer's superpowers.

His management style is not to everyone's taste but Germans can be proud of a young, exciting squad heading into their home World Cup and Klinsmann deserves enormous credit for that.

Klinsmann, now 41, made his name as a clinical finisher at VfB Stuttgart and went on to play for Inter Milan, Monaco, Tottenham Hotspur, Bayern Munich and Sampdoria in a glittering career.

He also played 108 times for Germany, scoring 47 goals, and won the World Cup in 1990 and the European championship six years later before retiring as a player in 1998.

His surprise appointment as coach came as Germany, who as West Germany were world champions in 1954 and 1974 as well as in 1990, found themselves with no obvious candidate willing to replace Rudi Voeller after a rotten showing at Euro 2004.

The signs were good from the start and with the team playing a relentless attacking game they finished the 2005 Confederations Cup in third place after losing 3-2 to Brazil in an outstanding semi-final.

Since then, the results have been mixed but Klinsmann has stuck by an inexperienced defence and an attack with little track record but fantastic potential, led by strikers Lukas Podolski and Miroslav Klose.

Klinsmann has also shown a ruthless streak very much in keeping with his style as a striker, standing up to Bayern Munich over the goalkeeping question and naming Arsenal's Jens Lehmann as number one in place of Oliver Kahn.

He has also stood firm over calls for him to move back from California. For the moment, few Germans are happy with the arrangement that sees him make the 22-hour round trip several times a month.

Klinsmann says it suits him perfectly. His family life has not been disrupted, he watches endless Bundesliga and international matches on video and television, he logs on to his e-mails throughout the day and is constantly in touch with his training staff and office.

He maintains it makes no difference if he is in Huntingdon Beach or Hanover.

If Germany make the best of a comfortable looking draw, with first-round games against Costa Rica, Poland and Ecuador, they stand a good chance of reaching the latter stages and perhaps playing in the final for the eighth time in their history.

If they do that, Klinsmann will be welcome to live wherever he likes.