“Both Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo gave us a lot of joy over the last 15 years, a lot of excitement, and they still do,” Jurgen Klinsmann said in an interview with ESPN. “I hope they will be at the 2026 World Cup. I still think we’ll have them both there.”

The German legend remains optimistic, even though he knows that it’s a long shot, given the ages of both players and the time remaining until the next World Cup. By June 2026, in the midst of the tournament, Messi will turn 39, while CR7 will be 41. Still, Jurgen believes their participation is possible. In fact, he has witnessed examples from the past, including Cameroon’s Roger Milla, who scored a goal against Russia at the 1994 World Cup at the remarkable age of 42.

Beyond the discussion about Messi and Ronaldo, Klinsmann expressed his excitement for the 2026 tournament. “I think the World Cup coming up in the United States, Mexico, and Canada will be incredible,” he said. “It will be the first with 48 teams, and there is a lot of excitement to come in the next few years.”

Klinsmann’s favorite for the 2026 World Cup

As a player, Jurgen Klinsmann won the World Cup with Germany in 1990 and went on to compete in the next two editions of the tournament. As a coach, he guided his country’s national tream to the semifinals in 2006 and later led the United States during the 2014 World Cup.

With his wealth of experience, the 60-year-old coach holds significant authority to share his insights and identify the team he sees as the favorite for the next World Cup. “Argentina will be defending the title, so they are the team to beat,” Klinsmann stated.

Klinsmann is a Messi admirer

Jurgen Klinsmann didn’t hide his admiration for Lionel Messi, recalling his joy when the Argentine star lifted the trophy at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. “We all, deep down inside, wanted Messi to win the World Cup so that he would reach the same level with which the Argentines view (Diego) Maradona,” Klinsmann admitted. “And he did: he brought them the World Cup in Qatar, two Copa Americas, which is incredible. He’s still playing at a high level and doing well… What he’s done in his career is incredible, amazing.”

In the end, Jürgen Klinsmann can claim to have a record of 55-27-16 with the US and is a winner of the 2013 Concacaf Gold Cup and a fourth-place finish in the 2016 Copa America. He also got the USMNT to the Round of 16 in the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

Jürgen Klinsmann spoke to CBS’ “Kickin’ It” team, where a former player of his, Clint Dempsey, is a co-host, and talked about his time with the USMNT, and also offering special words about Diego Maradona.

Jürgen Klinsmann on Diego Maradona

Jürgen Klinsmann spoke about his time as a player and a coach. When it came to the USMNT, he touched on the taboo subject of trying to get players to play at a higher level, meaning away from MLS, although he recognized that MLS has improved greatly since he was manager.

Klinsmann also gave his viewpoint on why he left Landon Donovan off of the USMNT World Cup roster in 2014, citing that Donovan’s time off from soccer was a major factor. Even though he admitted that in certain situations it would have been good to have him on the team, he wanted the rest of the players who had grinded it out with Jürgen Klinsmann to be on the roster, so Donovan was eventually cut.

When it came to Diego Maradona, Jürgen Klinsmann had kind words for the now-departed icon. Jürgen Klinsmann stated, “I also try to describe Diego Maradona as an artist; you have many world-class players… but there was only one artist, and that was Diego.

“The way he read the game and the way he was able to technically execute the game was completely from God; it was a different dimension. Understanding his life at Napoli and in Italy, understanding that he could never leave the house because people would go crazy or go to a coffee shop, never have a nice meal with his family in a restaurant, drove him to a corner, and that drove him into drugs. That makes the other side of the story so sad because he could not have a normal life.”

Jürgen Klinsmann ended the interview by not ruling out the possibility of one day coaching in MLS or another national team in the future.

In 2014, the USMNT was able to get to the round of 16 at the World Cup in Brazil, but a monster effort by Tim Howard kept the US in a game they should have been down 5-0 by half time against Belgium. After 2014 it all went down hill as a generational change in the program saw the German find little answers as the USMNT would fail to qualify for 2018.

Before taking over South Korea, Klinsmann quickly resigned from Hertha BSC, and now the former World Cup winner has not won a single game with South Korea going 0-2-2, the losses include defeats to Uruguay and Peru, with draws with Colombia and El Salvador.

Why is Jürgen Klinsmann on hot seat?

According to Korean journalist Sungmo Lee, the former USMNT boss is in hot water over, “no wins in 4 games, no commitment for Korean football, having Zoom press conference with Korean media from the United States.”

The only way out for Klinsmann at this point would be to win the Asian Cup in 2024, but most of all the German needs to “show ‘commitment’ to Korean football, otherwise the situation could get worse.”

Klinsmann owns a home in California, where he has spent much of his time post-retirement, he was last spotted on ESPN FC talking about Neymar and Lionel Messi’s moves to Saudi Arabia and MLS respectively.

After a stellar run with Germany from 2004 – 2006, the former striker’s time at Bayern Munich was a complete disaster, with Philipp Lahm stating that the players knew that after eight weeks “it was not going to work”.

With the USMNT, 2011-2016, based on who you talk to, Klinsmann was either a genius or a disaster. Klinsmann was able to rock the boat in the USSF and MLS establishment with his quotes about Americans needing to test themselves more in Europe and building a better youth system, while that under and after Klinsmann has improved, the reality was on the field the team failed to play the possession and fluid game he promised. Near the end of this time the USMNT was a tactical mess with strange lineup changes and poor play. Between the ups and downs was a round of 16 exit in the 2014 World Cup and a semifinal appearance in the Copa America 2016.

Jürgen Klinsmann analyzing South Korea

Jürgen Klinsmann’s lone accomplishment as a head coach was winning the 2013 Concacaf Gold Cup with the USMNT, as Landon Donovan led the squad to said championship. Jürgen Klinsmann repaid the all-time USMNT great by having him cut from the final World Cup roster only a year later.

Now according to Jason (Hanshin) Lee, “Jürgen Klinsmann is the KFA’s top candidate to replace Paulo Bento. Negotiations have progressed considerably, with salary and coaching staff issues largely resolved. The main hurdle seems to be whether Klinsmann will accept living in Korea for the next four years.”

Klinsmann would be a huge change from the attacking yet tactically aware coaches South Korea is used to having. Klinsmann is known for rattling the cages and making strange decisions to push a program forward.

In total in his four positions as coach Klinsmann has a 55% winning percentage with his best mark being with Germany.

Iran got their ticket to a third consecutive World Cupafter amazing performances in the Asian Qualifiers. Carlos Queiroz’s team dominated their group with 8 wins, 1 draw and only 1 loss against rivals such asSouth Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.

Carlos Queiroz was supposed to lead Colombia to Qatar 2022, butthe lack of results in the CONMEBOL qualifiers got him fired. Then, Iran called again and he decided to take charge of the team for a third consecutive World Cup (2014, 2018 and 2022). Iran surprised everyone by beating Wales on Matchday 2 and that’s when Jurgen Klinsmann unleashed chaos with his remarks.

What happened between Carlos Queiroz and Jurgen Klinsmann?

After their victory over Wales, Jurgen Klinsmann claimed “gamesmanship” was part of Iran’s culture. That really hard take came in an interview with the BBC. “Yes, that’s their culture and their way of doing it. That’s why Queiroz fits really well the Iranian national team.This is just part of their culture and how they play, then they work the referee.You saw the bench always jumping up, working the fourth official and the linesman, constantly in their ears, constantly in your face”.

Klinsmann went further and strongly crticized Carlos Queiroz’s accolades. “Struggled in South America. He failed to qualify with Colombia and then he failed with Egypt to qualify and then he went back and guided Iran, who he worked already with for a long, long time. So this is not by coincidence. This is done on purpose”, said the former manager of Germany and the United States.

Carlos Queiroz answered to the claims via Twitter. “Dear Jurgen; You took the initiative to call me Carlos, so I believe it is proper to call you Jurgen. Right? Even not knowing me personally, you question my character with a typical prejudiced judgment of superiority. We promise you that we will not produce any judgments regarding your culture, roots and background and that you will always be welcome to our Family”.

Queiroz also asked Jurgen Klinsmann to resign from his role within FIFA’s technical study group. “At the same time, we just want to follow with full attention what will be the decision of FIFA regarding your position as a member of Qatar 2022 Technical Study Group. Because, obviously, we expect you to resign before you visit our camp”.

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It is known that Jurgen Klinsmann is a huge fan of Lionel Messi and what he has done through his whole career. The Argentinian forward, who now plays for PSG, was a rising star during the 2006 FIFA World Cup, but his true potential was not shown as he did not have so many minutes on the field for his squad.

16 years have passed since the Germany 2006, but Klinsmann does not forget what he lived during the whole tournament. The host team was able to make it through the round of 16 and the Quarter-Finals, but they lost to Italy in Semi-Finals. Despite that, he knows he had some luck against Argentina to get into the best four national teams of that FIFA World Cup.

Jurgen Klinsmann revealed the key factor which helped Germany defeat Argentina in the 2006 FIFA World Cup

During a media round table, Jurgen Klinsmann was asked about the 2006 FIFA World Cup and the game between germany and Argentina in the Quarter-Finals. The coach revealed that he was relieved when he knew that Lionel Messi was not going to play against them.

“I was very happy Messidid not enter that day”, said the Bundesliga legend with a laughter in between. “It was a dramatic Quarter-Final, like a little movie script as well that happened just in one game. It ended in a penalty shootout and we obviously were lucky to go through those penalties. It is one of those games that you could discuss up and down, again and again. I was extremely happy that Messi did not enter the stage.”

At that time, Lionel Messi, at it was said before, was a rising star in soccer, so he was not in the starting XI for Argentina during the World Cup. The rest is history, but there are some personalities, like in this case Jurgen Klinsmann, that think that the forward could have change things up for his national team in that tournament.