FRANCE 98 – General Media News Template

Jurgen Klinsmann and Lothar Matthaus refused to dig over their recent bitter past when Germany flew to Finland on Monday for a 10-day World Cup training camp. “Just as in 1990 we have only one goal-to become world champions. And it worked then,”  Klinsmann said.

“We’re old enough to be able to talk to each other,”   Matthaus said. The 37-year-old sweeper, recalled after a four-year absence because first-choice sweeper Mathhias Sammer was injured, had in the past claimed Klinsmann conspired to keep him out of the team. “We have always been able to play together whether it was at Bayern or Milan,”  he added.

The two players were team-mates at Bayern Munich and Inter Milan. Schalke sweeper Olaf Thon and Dortmund midfielder Steffen Freund were held up by heavy traffic and missed the plane.

The two Italy-based players-Oliver Bierhoff (Udinese) and Christian Ziege (AC Milan) — will be flying direct to Finland. Germany’s squad session finished with a friendly against Finland on May 27.

They have two more warm-up matches after that-against Colombia at Frankfurt on May 30 and against Luxembourg at Mannheim on June 5. They open their World Cup campaign against the United States at the Parc des Prince in Paris on June 15.

Yugoslavia and Iran are Germany’s other Group F opponents.