Bernd Schuster never made it past the second division as a coach in Germany but recently got what is arguably the most coveted job in the business with a three-year deal at Real Madrid.

Scotland will probably never hire a German coach again after Berti Vogts’s uneasy reign and it’s a safe bet no German will ever coach Cameroon again after Winfried Schaefer left under a cloud.

But despite those and some other less than amicable split-ups, Germans still regularly fetch up on club and country benches around the world. 

Juergen Klinsmann, who led Germany to third place in the World Cup and was recently linked with Chelsea, will probably be the next top German coach snapped up.

The list of Germans coaching national teams abroad now or in the past is long: Otto Rehhagel in Greece, Klaus Toppmoeller in Georgia, Vogts in Scotland and now Nigeria, Uli Stielike in Switzerland and Ivory Coast, Hans-Peter Briegel in Albania and then Bahrain, Schaefer in Cameroon, Otto Pfister in Togo and many other nations, Bernd Stange in Iraq, Holger Osieck in Canada and Lothar Matthaeus in Hungary.

Germans have also made their marks as club coaches in foreign leagues. To name a few: Guido Buchwald in Japan, Christoph Daum in Turkey, Joachim Loew in Austria and Turkey, Jupp Heynckes in Spain, Werner Lorant in Turkey and South Korea, Matthaeus in Brazil and Austria, and Ernst Middendorp in South Africa.

Why are German coaches in such demand? Is it because, in line with the old cliche, they’re seen as such good organisers? It can’t just be that they want to get away from Germany, can it?

Erik Kirschbaum, Berlin

“I believe that these can be good times to be at Newcastle, wrote Michael Owen in the Times newspaper last week, which is why I am more than happy to be here.

In manager Sam Allardyce and new owner Mike Ashley, Newcastle may have found the hard grafter/silent partner they need but has Owen really found true happiness?

Or in a league where the fox in the box (see here for a great definition) has become an endangered species among the top four clubs, has the former Liverpool man been forced to paint on that boyish grin?

Owen left Real Madrid in 2005 to ensure his participation in the World Cup. The recently revealed £9 million get-out clause (one that wont allow Allardyce a decent nights sleep until August 31st) might have been designed to ensure only a short spell on Tyneside. Yet for a striker standing just 12 goals shy of Bobby Charltons seemingly impenetrable 49-goal England record, Owen has a remarkably shallow list of suitors.

An unappealing history of injuries may be one explanation but so is the fact that the Premier League Michael Owen was born into is very different to the one he returned to.

When he joint-top scored in 1998, Owens contemporaries were predators great and small from Alan Shearer, Ian Wright and Robbie Fowler to Michael Bridges, Marcus Stewart and Kevin Phillips.

Upon his return, it is the thrilling attacker and not the crafty poacher that thrives. The unpredictability of Ronaldo, the ferocity of Drogba and the explosiveness of Torres are the hard currency of 2007.

Can an injury free Owen revive one of the great lost traditions of English football? Or, more importantly, will he get the opportunity to do so at a level befitting his pedigree?

Padraic Halpin, London

Former Real Madrid president Florentino Perez famously said the clubs recruitment policy should be based on Zidanes and Pavons. What he meant was that Real should pay top dollar for the worlds biggest stars like Zidane and then fill the gaps with youth team products like centre-back Francisco Pavon.

That policy has proved to be little more than empty rhetoric. Promising players from Reals youth teams (the “canteranos”) have been shipped out of the Bernabeu with alarming regularity (up to 30 in the last five years, according to Marca), while the club has concentrated instead on acquiring expensive foreign imports.

Some argue the youth set-up is not producing players of sufficient quality, but a host of other Primera Liga clubs think otherwise. Discarded by Real, players like midfielders Valdo and Juanfran, strikers Luis Garcia and Javier Portillo and defender Alvaro Arbeloa have gone on to enjoy considerable success in other clubs.

The trend continues. After a season on the sidelines under Fabio Capello, Pavon has moved to Zaragoza to hook up with Roberto Ayala, fellow centre-back Alvaro Mejia has gone to newly promoted Murcia, while the highly rated keeper Diego Lopez has decamped to Villarreal. The so-called pearl of the present generation of canteranos, striker Juan Mata, has also left Real to sign for Valencia.

Reals failure to exploit their own players must be due in large part to the constant upheavals in technical staff at the club (eight different first team coaches in a little over four years can hardly be conducive to long term planning). It also seems Real feel obliged to sign expensive foreign players to maintain their image and status.

One exception to the rule is the promising young full-back Miguel Torres, who made a series of impressive contributions under Capello last season. Like Pavon, Mejia and Arbeloa will he fade out of the reckoning after a bright start? Or will Real stand by him and try to exploit the talent they have helped produce?

Simon Baskett, Madrid

As Rolando Bianchi sifts through the offerings of the Lancashire estate agents, Manchester City’s 13 million euro signing will hope he can offset a trend of strikers who have flopped after joining the Premier League from Serie A.

Of course there have been success stories. Gianfranco Zola showed off an array of fancy flicks and fantastic goals but he is the exception.

Fresh in everyone’s memory is Andrei Shevchenko after a 45 million euro transfer and a return of four league goals, half of which were against relegated sides Watford and Sheffield United.

Here are a few more.

Massimo Maccarone: The name still forces a shiver from some Middlesbrough fans. The bald-headed Italian wowed coaches and fans alike with his goal-scoring displays in the UEFA Under-21 Championship in 2002. Steve McClaren spent 12.7 million euros to buy him but five long years and just 18 league goals later, Maccarone has been shown the door by Gareth Southgate and is back in Italy with Siena.

Andrea Silenzi: Known affectionately as the Big Brush, Silenzi is was the first Italian to appear in the Premier League when he arrived in 1995 at a cost of 2.65 million euros, but he managed just two goals in his 20 games against the formidable Bradford and Oxford in cup competitions. He left, having had his contract torn up by manager Dave Bassett, for the sanctuary of Reggina two seasons later.

Corrado Grabbi: Having arrived at Ewood Park, Blackburn, Grabbi was billed as the man who would replicate the goalscoring displays of England striker Alan Shearer. Unfortunately just two league goals did not repay the near 10 million euros Rovers boss Graeme Souness had invested in the former Juventus striker.

Has Sven broken the jinx and discovered a star in Bianchi? City fans will certainly hope so.

Patrick Johnston works on the Reuters sports desk, London

Speaking German has never been a prerequisite to play in the Bundesliga, whose multi-national clubs have opened their arms to multi-lingual talent — even before the 1995 Bosman Ruling forbade EU countries from imposing limits on the number of EU players in a team.

But Energie Cottbus has taken that love of foreigners to new heights with players from 14 different countries — count ‘em, 14! — speaking 14 different languages in their line-up for the upcoming season. Mein Gott!

With players from countries ranging from A (Albania) to Z (Zypern, the German word for Cyprus) the small club with one of the smallest budgets in the Bundesliga have signed players from an astonishing array of nations. The reason: prices for foreigners tend to be lower than for Germans and the growing number of EU countries.

Cottbus already made German history in 2001 when they fielded 11 foreigners for the first time in a Bundesliga match in a 0-0 home draw with VfL Wolfsburg. The Cottbus players in that match came from eight different countries.

This year, the club in the small town near the Polish border have players from Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, China, Croatia, Denmark, France, Hungary, Germany, Macedonia, Poland, Romania as well as Albania (Ervin Skela) and Cyprus (Efstathios Aloneftis).

Most of the foreigners speak at least some English, according to coach Petrik Sanders. But not all speak German yet, and 10 of them are taking classes in the not-so-easy-to learn language of Goethe and Schiller after training sessions.

Viel Glueck!

Erik Kirschbaum, Berlin

The summer transfer window can see even the shrewdest manager make the silliest transfer. For all the brilliance of Vieira, Fabregas, and Henry, Arsene Wenger must also take responsibility for signing Francis Jeffers, Kaba Diawara and Christopher Wreh.

But thats only scratching the surface, and here are five English summer flops for starters.

Alberto Tarantini (Boca Juniors to Birmingham City, £295,000, 1978)
The original reckless summer signing? While Ossie Ardiles and Ricky Villa prospered at Tottenham, their fellow Argentine World Cup winner lasted just one season in the midlands, wading into the home crowd for a punch up on his 23rd and final game.

Thomas Brolin (Parma to Leeds United, £4.5 million, 1995)
Scorer of a hometown goal that knocked England out of Euro 92, a drastically different shaped Brolin arrived at Leeds three years later. The now third division club have made a lot of poor signings since but none as comical as the Swede who made 19 appearances in two years.

Juan Sebastian Veron (Lazio to Manchester United, £28.1 million, 2001)
Veron wasnt the first internationally renowned player to have failed to adapt to life in the premiership but he was certainly the most costly. Recouping £15 million from Chelsea after two unsuccessful seasons was probably Sir Alex Fergusons finest move of all.

Serhiy Rebrov (Dinamo Kiev to Tottenham Hotspur, £11 million, 2000)
You cant help but feel Spurs went shopping for strikers in the Ukraine 12 months too late. A season after Andriy Shevchenko left for Milan, Rebrov boarded a plane for London and while his old strike partner scored 90 goals in his first four seasons, Rebrov managed just 10 in his four at Tottenham.

Marco Boogers (Sparta Rotterdam to West Ham United, £1 million, 1995)
Harry Redknapp wasnt immune to a misguided signing or two in the mid-nineties and not even Florin Raducioiu could compete with Boogers. Red carded in his second and final substitute appearance, the striker promptly disappeared, discovered several weeks later in a Dutch caravan park.

Missing a few more? And beyond England, where have the expensive mistakes been made? 

Padraic Halpin, London

On the face of it, Brazil’s 3-0 win over Argentina in the Copa America final, though not pretty, was fair and square.

They stung Argentina with an early goal, destroyed their normally slick passing game with tenacious marking in midfield, won most of the 50-50 balls with superior physical strength and hit their rivals with fulminating counter-attacks.

But there was another reason Argentina could not get into their rhythm. Nearly every time they got within 30 to 40 metres of the Brazilian goal, the move was halted with a foul — a tug of the shirt, a push or a sneaky trip, that sort of thing.

The offenders did not receive yellow cards because the fouls were not considered violent by the Paraguayan referee, Carlos Amarilla. Yet this tactic was clearly against the laws of the game, an illegitimate way of stopping Argentina playing football.

Like Amarilla, many other referees seem reluctant to clamp down on repetitive fouling. But, in doing so, they are encouraging the teams who put the emphasis on defending and destroying, as Brazil did on Sunday, and inhibiting those such as Argentina, who like to pass the ball around.

Should something be done to get rid of the tactical foul or is it part of modern football, where physical strength and power are becoming ever more predominant?

Brian Homewood was covering the Copa America in Venezuela

Asian Cup glamour coach Bruno Metsu says he has no problems looking in the mirror — and he likes what he sees. Unfortunately, it’s not helping the United Arab Emirates, who lost their first two games in Group B.

The Frenchman, a dead ringer for soft rock crooner Michael Bolton with his wavy, blow-dried hair and gold medallion, famously guided Senegal to the last eight of the 2002 World Cup in their first appearance at the finals and still believes he has the magic touch.

“I believe in me. I trust in me,” he told Reuters, as if belting out an old Bolton classic. “For me confidence is no problem. I can still look in the mirror and it’s no problem for me!”

Metsu enjoyed success at club level in the Middle East after the 2002 World Cup and warned UAE officials that if they no longer found him sexy he would flounce out and find alternative employment.

“If they are not happy, I will make my job (elsewhere) and make my bed!” he said with a flick of his shoulder-length mane.

Alastair Himmer is covering the Asian Cup

There was no hiding the disappointment among Australia’s high-profile players when they made their first appearance at the Asian Cup at a near-empty Rajamangala stadium in Bangkok.

The Socceroos had been told their matches had been sold out, and that they could expect the sort of reception normally reserved for pop stars.

But when the players marched on to the stadium to play Oman for their first game, then Iraq in their second, it immediately became apparent that someone had been pulling their legs.

Only a few thousand people had bothered to turn up to each game and the Australians hardly turned in the sort of displays that will pack them in next time. They drew 1-1 with Oman and then lost 3-1 to Iraq, prompting an angry outburst from coach Graham Arnold.

“As far as I saw some players didn’t even want to be here,” Arnold said. “They can blame the heat and humidity as expected but this was about attitude.”

The Australians had been told that Thais are among the most fervent football fans in Asia, and they would be the headline act because so many of them play in the English Premier League, which is widely watched in Asia.

The Football Federation of Australia (FFA), which ditched Oceania for Asia in search of tougher opposition and the lure of bigger tournaments, admitted they were surprised by the paltry attendance.

“They’re big Premier League followers so we expected they would be coming out to watch Australia’s Premier League players,” said John Boultbee, Australian soccer’s head of high performance. “The players are happy with everything here… but I know they were very disappointed by the crowd.”

Julian Linden is in Bangkok covering the Asian Cup 

Those who regularly attend the Copa America have become used to watching top level international football played in venues which resemble European second or third division grounds.

In 1995, I saw Brazil and Argentina meet in a ramshackle stadium in the Uruguayan border town of Rivera. Four years later, the two faced off again in equally modest surroundings in Ciudad del Este, a Paraguayan border town with a real frontier atmosphere.

Most of the stadiums used in Peru three years ago were provincial grounds which received a quick lick of paint, a new pitch and not much else, although they were a step up from some of the previous offerings and perfectly adequate.

The current event in Venezuela, however, has been something of a shock.

Three-brand state-of-the-art new stadiums have been built in Merida, Barquisimeto and Maturin while six other grounds have been refurbished beyond recognition. All stadiums are all-seaters and many have facilities — particularly media tribunes — as good as anything found at the European Championship or the World Cup.

It is an impressive effort from a country where soccer still trails baseball as the national sport. The public responded superbly and, despite the usual ticketing problems, nearly all games have been sell-outs with an average attendance of over 30,000.

The other side of the coin is that the organisers left everything until the last minute.

Barquisimeto’s stadium was not fully finished for Sunday’s Argentina-Peru quarter-final, which is the most important game it is ever likely to host. Maturin’s 52,000 capacity Monumental stadium looked great on the television but the area outside was a sea of mud and piles of rubble. Both grounds are way out of town and a nightmare to get to without a car.

There is also the matter of what happens when the Copa is finished. Venezuelan championship matches rarely attract more than a few thousand fans and there is a danger that the country may have bred a herd of white elephants.

Brian Homewood is covering the Copa America in Venezuela