Jurgen Klinsmann a surprise guest at Sounders FC practice

One of the most famous living legends in the world of football was at Seattle Sounders FC practice today, and it caused quite a stir amongst players, coaches and journalists on hand.

Jhon Kennedy Hurtado poses at today's Sounders FC practice with famous German player and coach Jurgen Klinsmann. (Chris Coulter)

Germany's Jurgen Klinsmann watched practice today, visited with his fellow German (heritage) friend Sigi Schmid, and was a good enough guy to pose with a bunch of players and even our own Chris Coulter, who has the photos below to prove it!

In their post-practice quotes release Sounders FC included Sigi Schmid talking about why his famous German pal was in Seattle.

Seattle Times: A stop and chat with Jurgen Klinsmann

8/7 practice quotes, Sigi Schmid – Head Coach
(On Jurgen Klinsmann being at Sounders FC training . . .) “Ever since he moved to the States he has been a good friend. As he said, we come, sort of, from the same neighborhood in Germany so we can actually talk German to each other and the other Germans wouldn’t understand because there’s different slangs in different areas. But it’s great. I have been telling him what the atmosphere is like up here and I said at some point you need to get up here. Obviously this worked out and I think it’s going to be great for our fans show him what our game is all about on Sunday and how they are into it and so forth. It’s something where he has seen the growth of the game here in the States, he has been here long enough, and I think he’s going to be really impressed by what he sees on Sunday in terms of the entire Seattle Sounders experience.”

(On turning point in season . . .)  “It never turned. Until we get there, until we get into the playoffs for sure, the moment you stop and pat yourself on the back a bunch of people pull past you. So right now we are in a good phase and we need to continue to do that. Defining moments is something I usually look at more as an after the season type of thing. But certainly the win over the L.A. Galaxy in the Open Cup was a big moment for us after having just lost to them down there. It didn’t matter who was starting. It was just a matter of, ‘Hey, we’re better than that. Let’s go out there and show it.’ Winning that game I think was important for our team from a moral standpoint and then from there some positive things have occurred and have pushed us forward.”

(On Brad Evans . . .) “His injury is not responding. It’s a strange injury, again. It’s not something that you normally see. His injury is not responding. He is a pretty tough kid. He fights through things. He was really struggling yesterday at training. He pulled himself out. So we have got to look at maybe going a different direction. But certainly it might take him out for a longer time, might take him out for the season. But that’s something we will be able to determine hopefully next week.”

(On making MLS playoffs . . .) “Well 45 points for me is always the safe zone. If you are averaging a point and a half per game you are going to get into the playoffs, no matter what. It depends. The Galaxy were running away with points early on in the season and so was Salt Lake, a little less so now for the Galaxy. If they continue to run away with points it might be less points at the bottom of the playoff table. For us right now we have just got to continue to accumulate points and the closer we get to 45 the better I feel.”