Jurgen Klinsmann: USA, Germany Won’t Arrange Draw At 2014 World Cup

Jurgen Klinsmann and Joachim Low are good friends, but they’re not looking to help each other.

Klinsmann and Low, head coaches of the United States and Germany national teams, respectively, will set their squads out to win Thursday when they face off in Group G of the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Germany and the United States top Group G on points with four, and both teams would advance to the Round of 16 with a draw. Ghana and Portugal’s participation in the tournament would end with such a result.

But Klinsmann won’t entertain the idea of playing for a draw.

“We want to beat Germany,” Klinsmann said Monday, according to USA Today. “We want to be first in our group, so we’re not thinking about a tie.”

Similarly, Germany assistant coach Hansi Flick and defender Mats Hummels dismissed the notion of an arrangement with Team USA.

“I can only say a concrete ‘no.’ We’ve already said we want to win the game, and that’s how we’ll play over 90 minutes,” Flick said, according to Soccerly.

“It would be unsportsmanlike to do that and not fair,” Hummels added. “Besides, we want to win the game. We’re not playing for any result other than a victory.”

The soccer world is enjoying one of the greatest World Cups of the modern era (post-1970) this month. Nobody wants to tarnish it with a repeat of an infamous 1982 World Cup game in which West Germany and Austria loafed around the field for 80 minutes to reach a draw that helped both teams progress and eliminated Algeria.

Even if it meant Klinsmann would reach his target and Low would be well down the path toward his.

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