Jürgen Klinsmann, the German coach of the US national soccer team, may have a long flight to reach the US's next game against France in Paris on Friday. It will be an even longer haul next week after the team's second game against Slovenia when he heads back to home to California.

Steven Cherundolo, on the other hand, won't even have to change time zones. He lives in Hanover, where he's spent the last thirteen years playing defense for Hanover 96 in the German league, the Bundesliga. He came to Germany in 1999, roughly the same time his career as a US national team player started taking off.

Since then, Cherundolo has established himself as a mainstay on both teams. For the US, he's earned 74 caps and played in two World Cups (with an injury preventing a third).

In over 350 games for Hanover, Cherundolo has seen the team through a promotion from the second league into the Bundesliga. He is also in his second season as the team's captain and speaks perfect, accent-free German.

Cherundolo spoke with Deutsche Welle ahead of the upcoming game.

DW: Which do you prefer - flying all the way across the Atlantic to play a home game in the US, or staying here in Europe, but having to play as the away team?

Steven Cherundolo: That's a tough question - I love going home, I love spending time in the US. And of course, playing in front of our own fans is always a pleasure. But due to our heavy schedule this year with Hanover 96, I'm looking forward to the short travel. I think I'll take the away game this time around.

These games will be the sixth and seventh for the US under coach Jürgen Klinsmann. What's your take so far with him at the helm?

The important thing is to see the group gelling together again under the new coaching staff, and us as a group moving forward. Maybe at a slower pace than we expected, but for sure, we're moving in the right direction. That is, to me, the most important indication that we're doing good work.

The casual observer in the US might not have known about Klinsmann's background as a player and coach before he was hired by the US. Germans certainly know him, and you've been here long enough to have heard plenty about his career. What was your reaction when you found out he was going to be your new coach?

First and foremost, I have to say anytime a coaching change takes place, it means that we've done something wrong. A coaching change is never all positive. Having said that, we really want to thank Bob Bradley and all his staff for the time they gave us. But we were excited about Jürgen and his new ideas. Here [in Germany] he's basically a living legend. He was one of those personalities that certainly polarized. You either loved him or hated him. But after the 2006 World Cup, as the German head coach, the majority of the fans loved him here in Germany.

Now the US has a German coach to go with a couple of US players who were born in Germany but have US eligibility (Timothy Chandler, Danny Williams, Jermaine Jones). What do you think of the increasing German influence on the US national team?

I really don't see it that way. I see players as good players and players who are not so good. Anytime a player can come into our group and help the team out and advance the team in the quality department, then I could care less where he was born. Important is how a player fits in the group, and I think that's something the coaching staff has to decide. The group, as well, will either accept you or throw you out, so to speak. It has a lot to do with the personality, and very little to do with where you were born.

How do you see your role on the US team?

Certainly one of the older guys! Maybe the oldest guy now, who has been around and seen a few qualification games, and I think that's the biggest thing that's coming up this summer for us - the biggest challenge. Really, to help prepare the guys on things that I've seen that are going to challenge us this summer. Any time you can help out a younger guy, telling him, "Listen, this is what the situation is going to be like in Costa Rica, or in Honduras, or Guatemala," then the better prepared they are for that game.

You're spent your entire 12-year career at Hanover. With the exception of 2001/02, when the team was promoted to the Bundesliga, a lot of the time in the last decade has been spent in the bottom half of the table. But last season, and this one so far, have been the complete opposite. What has changed in the last two seasons?

I think a few things. The current coaching staff really has a plan, and they stick by it. They have a way to train this group of guys that seems to fit unbelievably to the group of guys we have. I think we have a really good mix of experienced and inexperienced players. On another note, I think personalities fit so well together. Guys are doing a lot together off the field and out of the locker room. It's just one of those rare situations. Not only do we compliment each other as soccer players on the field, but also off the field as well. I think in one's career you come around a group of guys like that maybe once or twice, and one of those times is happening now.

What has Mirko Slomka changed at the club since he's been here?

I think the biggest thing is continuity. He has not changed his way one bit how he is coaching this team. After losses, after wins, we continue to do the same work, and that's very easy for a player to adapt to and to progress with. That's something that I think is very important in this business, because there are a lot of ups and downs. There's a lot of pressure from the outside - from the media, from the fans - and the more continuity you can have on the inside, with the management and the coaching staff, the better off the players are.

What do you think is going to happen first: Hanover wins the Bundesliga, or the US wins the World Cup?

How about we do it at the same time?

Interview: Matt Zuvela
Editor: Michael Lawton