NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Sport / Football / Football World Cup

Soccer: A clash of canny tacticians as US and Germany meet

20 Jun, 2002 09:32 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

SEOUL - On one side of the pitch in tonight's second quarter-final showdown will be a German hero with brief coaching experience.

Opposing him will be the United States' most successful sports coach ever, but whose international playing career was fleeting.

Germany's Rudi Voeller, 42, and American coach Bruce Arena, 50,
are easy-going and friendly, have lifted their national teams from the ashes of disastrous defeats and have made some deft tactical moves to set up tonight's match.

But the similarities stop there.

Voeller, one of the most popular characters in German soccer, has scored 47 goals in 90 internationals and taken part in three World Cups, lifting the coveted trophy in 1990.

He had no coaching experience when he took over from Erich Ribbeck as a caretaker in the wake of Germany's disastrous first-round exit from Euro 2000, but he was immediately accepted.

Arena, a distinguished college lacrosse and soccer player, has just one international cap, as a substitute goalkeeper in the US team that lost 0-2 to Israel in 1973.

But he had 17 winning seasons as a University of Virginia coach, led DC United to two Major League Soccer cups, and has a 0.623 winning percentage since taking over the American team in late 1998, the best record of any US national coach.

Voeller has agreed to guide his team until after the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany, and his decision has won approval from all those who count in German soccer, including Cup-winning captain and coach Franz Beckenbauer.

Arena has far surpassed his modest goal of rebuilding US soccer from a disastrous 32nd and last showing at the 1998 finals, but shrugs off questions about his future, insisting he is thinking only of tonight's match in Ulsan, South Korea.

Voeller does not let anybody dictate what he should do, making lineup changes that helped to seal Germany's 2-0 first-round win over Cameroon and their 1-0 defeat of Paraguay.

He ignored suggestions that Miroslav Klose had too little experience to play at this level, the Kaiserslautern striker paying him back with five goals.

"The coach has done everything right," said playmaker Michael Ballack.

The tactically astute Arena has defied convention with frequent substitutions and lineup changes, placing well-rewarded faith in relatively untested midfielder Landon Donovan and starting second-choice goalkeeper Brad Friedel.

"He lets the team play. He's not a dictator," said Friedel. He and Donovan have been pivotal in the best American showing at a Cup since 1930.

German captain Oliver Kahn, who was Voeller's team-mate in the 1994 Cup squad, said his boss was unflappable.

"You always had the impression that nothing could affect him. He's still very much like that."

Voeller has only lost his cool once in this campaign, hitting back at critics of Germany's sluggish performance against Paraguay.

Arena, amiable but notorious in US soccer circles for undiplomatic bombshell comments, disagreed with criticism of Voeller, whom he called "a very good coach and a terrific guy".

Arena expressed empathy for Voeller and his heavily favoured side for having to answer to a soccer-mad homeland.

"If we don't win this game we'll do fine. We'll be home and everyone will be happy with us," he said. "I'm not sure how the German team will do if they lose to the US. They may not be heading right to Frankfurt after the game."

- REUTERS

nzherald.co.nz/fifaworldcup

Groups and team lists
Stars
Schedule
Points tables
Previous winners and key statistics


Interactive graphics:
Groups and team profiles

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Football World Cup

Sport|football

World Cup payday: The ‘life-changing’ money All Whites receive for qualification

25 Mar 09:15 PM
Football World Cup

Why Chris Wood believes the All Whites can shine at Fifa World Cup

25 Mar 06:03 PM
Sport|football

New Caledonia's plan to stop Chris Wood with World Cup spot on the line

24 Mar 01:00 AM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Football World Cup

World Cup payday: The ‘life-changing’ money All Whites receive for qualification

World Cup payday: The ‘life-changing’ money All Whites receive for qualification

25 Mar 09:15 PM

Qualification is massive for the sport and also comes with huge financial rewards.

Why Chris Wood believes the All Whites can shine at Fifa World Cup

Why Chris Wood believes the All Whites can shine at Fifa World Cup

25 Mar 06:03 PM
New Caledonia's plan to stop Chris Wood with World Cup spot on the line

New Caledonia's plan to stop Chris Wood with World Cup spot on the line

24 Mar 01:00 AM
Wood hat-trick leaves All Whites one win away from World Cup

Wood hat-trick leaves All Whites one win away from World Cup

21 Mar 08:17 AM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP