One too few for Klinsmann

One up front
Klinsmann cited the Netherlands and Germany as two sides who struggled partly because they played with just one man up front while relying on midfield players to attack from deep. "Many coaches went with one striker up front," said Klinsmann, who was captain of Germany's EURO '96™-winning team.

Pressure on midfield
"It was a shame the Dutch started with only one up front in Ruud van Nistelrooij - it puts pressure on the attacking midfield players. Germany played with one striker so everything was on the shoulders of Michael Ballack to come forward."

Favourites
In Van Nistelrooij's case, the Dutch forward remains the tournament's joint-second highest scorer with four goals but for Klinsmann, Wayne Rooney of England and the Czech Republic's Milan Baroš have been the two best strikers in Portugal. Rooney, like Van Nistelrooij, scored four times while Baroš is almost certain to finish top scorer with five.

Rooney 'an inspiration'
Klinsmann, who selected the pair in his Mastercard team of the tournament, said: "Up front, Czech striker Milan Baroš had an outstanding tournament and scored five goals. Wayne Rooney was as an inspiration. He is 18 years old but he just went out there and played like he'd been around for ever, with no fear. He is very strong physically, he's dynamic and he can go on long runs.

Lack of support
"Van Nistelrooij also scored four goals but look at how Rooney fitted into the whole team. Van Nistelrooij looked to me isolated from the rest of his team and never really got the support he needed. It's a shame as they have so many marvellous players but they couldn't support him the way he gets supported at Manchester United [FC]."

Pauleta problem
Portugal have also operated with a lone attacker and their first-choice forward, Pauleta, has yet to score. Klinsmann puts this down to the player himself, who missed several chances in the semi-final against the Dutch. "Pauleta was not able to finish his chances," he said. "He is an honest talent but whoever is up front has to be very sharp mentally and be able to finish things off. Pauleta just started to think too much when he was clean through, whereas maybe in a league game he would have finished it."