Ballack criticises Klinsmann’s plans

MONCHENGLADBACH: German captain Michael Ballack has taken issue with coach Jurgen Klinsmann’s tactics just eight days before the World Cup host’s opening match against Costa Rica. The new Chelsea signing told Thursday’s Kicker football magazine that Germany could not continue the way they played in Tuesday’s 2-2 draw against Japan.

“Jurgen Klinsmann has formulated a very young team the last two years and we are always making the same mistakes and we have the same problems in defence,” Ballack said at a press conference on the eve of their final World Cup warm-up against Colombia.

“We have a very, very attacking style as we showed against Japan but we are losing too much possession. Against teams which will be very well prepared for the World Cup, like Costa Rica, Ecuador and Poland (Germany’s Group A opponents), we should be concentrating on our defence.”

Ballack, who had never publicly criticised Klinsmann before, added: “The coach knows what I think and what the others think too. We have already spoken about this but the final decisions are upto him.”