Klinsmann: 'England often beats itself'

LANDOVER, Md. (AP) -- Jurgen Klinsmann says England's soccer fortunes are hampered by negative fans and media

"England often beats itself. It's not the opponents necessarily," the current U.S. coach and former German coach said Tuesday.

Klinsmann sat at a podium next to American goalkeeper Tim Howard, the starter for Everton in the Premier League, and explained to a group of largely American and Brazilian reporters the philosophy he used when he coached Germany in the run-up to 2006 World Cup that it hosted. Klinsmann claimed domestic media have two choices when it comes to national teams.

"It is very simple. In a soccer-driven country, which Brazil is, Argentina is, Germany is, England is, where Tim plays, it all depends on how much you all go in the same direction," Klinsmann said. "What we tried to do in Germany before the World Cup was to get everybody behind their team and say it's everybody's World Cup. It's the whole nation, every fan, every Brazilian person's World Cup. It's not only the team that plays hopefully successfully.

"So they have two choices. You can say, I support my team, from the media perspective, too, or I give them trouble and I give them doubts and I give them, I don't know, nasty comments or whatever."