Time running out for Germany, Beckenbauer tells Klinsmann

BERLIN, Mar 9 (Reuters) Franz Beckenbauer turned the heat up on Germany coach Juergen Klinsmann today, saying the World Cup hosts had not improved with him in charge.

''At the beginning it worked out very well and he (Klinsmann) was able to change a few things but now there's not much left of all that,'' Beckenbauer, the president of Germany's World Cup organising committee, told reporters in Munich.

''We are back where we were a few years ago and time is running out,'' added Beckenbauer, who won the World Cup as a player in 1974 and as a coach, with Klinsmann in his team, in 1990.

Klinsmann, under scrutiny after a 4-1 friendly defeat by Italy last week, was scolded by Beckenbauer on Monday for returning home to California instead of attending a pre-World Cup workshop.

The former striker said his presence was not needed at the meetings in Duesseldorf on Monday and Tuesday.

Since taking the top job in August 2004, Klinsmann has been commuting between Germany and his home in southern California.

The 41-year-old Klinsmann's contract expires after the June 9-July 9 finals in Germany.

''It is a possibility that I might remain the national coach after the World Cup,'' the former Germany striker told today's issue of soccer magazine Kicker.

REUTERS AY RK2125