As U.S. Men’s National Team coach, Jürgen Klinsmann is famous for spinning negatives into positives. He’s a master of the art, and there’s no better example of it than Klinsmann’s debut for Tottenham Hotspur on Aug. 20, 1994—a full 20 years ago today.
Klinsmann had signed for Tottenham that summer, becoming one of the first big-name foreign players in the Premier League. Maybe the biggest to that point. He’d just scored five goals in the 1994 World Cup, and was recognized as one of the world’s greatest strikers. But he also arrived with a reputation for diving, a reputation which meant he was greeted with hostility by English media and fans. Most famously, he’d made sure Argentina’s Pedro Monzon was sent off during the 1990 World Cup final with this gymnastic masterpiece, which was usually played on the news alongside the report of Klinsmann’s signing:
Klinsmann is coming, and he’s going to ruin our honest English game with his cheating, was the reductive reasoning. English football was ready to revile him. English football was not ready for Klinsmann’s charm offensive.
It began in Klinsmann’s first press conference, when he asked the gathered reporters, “Are there any good diving schools in London?” But the moment that changed Klinsmann’s reputation, and perhaps forever altered English perceptions of foreign players, was Klinsmann’s celebration after scoring against Sheffield Wednesday on his Spurs debut. Once his perfectly timed header was safely in the back of the net, Klinsmann ran boldly toward the fans and flung himself forward, arms out, landing like a plane and skidding across the turf.