SAN FRANCISCO – Berti Vogts literally is working both sides.
As soon as he’s done coaching Azerbaijan against the Americans in a World Cup warmup Tuesday night, Vogts immediately will return to his other important soccer gig: scouting United States’ World Cup opponents as a special adviser to U.S. head coach Jurgen Klinsmann.
Only in soccer could Vogts pull this unique scenario – guiding one team, then rejoining the other in the lead-up to Brazil.
“I’ve never seen or heard that before,” U.S. midfielder Graham Zusi said. “That’s just the way it is sometimes.”
Vogts expects about half of Azerbaijan’s 9 million people to be watching the game on TV when it will be 7 a.m. in the former Soviet republic, 12 hours ahead. The match at Candlestick Park is the first of three World Cup warmups for the U.S. stateside before departing for Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Not that Vogts is getting ahead of himself.
“First, I’m the national coach for Azerbaijan, proud to play here against the United States,” Vogts said. “Azerbaijan is a very, very small country. More Azerbaijans are looking forward for this match. It’s a huge match for Azerbaijan, and I hope the match also will help the United States. It’s the first match, then they play against Turkey in New York and in Jacksonville against Nigeria. It’s very interesting matches for the U.S.”
He is quick to clear up a couple of things: Klinsmann hasn’t asked him to make any tactical adjustments based on better preparing the U.S., even though his team has faced all three World Cup opponents, and Klinsmann only offered the idea of this match, and Vogts agreed while feeling no pressure to oblige.
“It’s a friendly. It’s a natural match. It’s not a match about two friends. It’s a match of Azerbaijan-USA,” Vogts said. “Azerbaijan inhabitants have about 8 million, and maybe 4 million are waiting for the match against the big USA.”
The 67-year-old Vogts won the World Cup with West Germany in 1974 as a player and is in his seventh year coaching Azerbaijan. He coached Germany to World Cup quarterfinal losses in the 1994 and 1998 tournaments, then stepped down in September 1998. He went on to coach Kuwait from 2001 to 02, Scotland from 2002 to 2004 and Nigeria from 2007 to 2008.
Vogts asked permission to also assist German countryman Klinsmann, who coached Germany from 2004 to 2006.
Klinsmann called upon Vogts in March, when he shook up his coaching staff just more than two months before the World Cup. After Tuesday, Vogts will endure a whirlwind stretch of scouting and travel.
He will return to Germany with Azerbaijan. Then he will drive to Rotterdam to see Saturday’s exhibition between Ghana and the Netherlands. The next day it’s Cameroon and Germany in Moechengladbach, Germany.
“Then I come over to Boston and watch Portugal against Mexico, then I go to Jacksonville to be part of the (U.S.) team, then I stay two days longer in Miami and watch Ghana against South Korea,” Vogts said.
The Americans will head from the Bay Area to the East Coast. On Sunday, they will play Turkey at Harrison, New Jersey, followed by a game with Nigeria six days later in Jacksonville, Florida. The U.S. then will travel to the squad’s base camp in Sao Paulo to prepare for its Group G opener against Ghana on June 16 at Natal.
During this stretch, Klinsmann certainly will be looking for the best fits up front without Landon Donovan and will try and determine his starting foursome on the back line. And, he will be looking for any insight from Vogts on the opponents.
Vogts perfectly is content to contribute behind the scenes, without getting involved in personnel decisions or weighing in on Klinsmann’s choice to leave Donovan home.
“I think it’s a good group together, the U.S.,” he said. “I’m not a coach (for USA). Maybe Jurgen has some questions for me about special things. I give him a clear answer. That is my part.”
