Ohne Hoffnung gibt es keine Träume! Those are the words from Salomon Kalou as Hertha get ready for the ruckrunde as play begins next weekend in the second half of what has simply been a fabulous Bundesliga season.
What Kalou is saying is 'Without hope, there are no dreams!' Hertha are in third place and dreaming of the Champions League. The fun begins for the Berliners on Saturday at home against Europa League round of 32 outfit FC Augsburg.
Kalou used this wide-ranging interview to discuss more than football, particularly what it means to be a role model to Africans as a Champions League winner. We will provide his words to those who do not speak German.
Said Kalou: "You must bring a great openness. Generally, one would like to retain his habits when you come to a new country. You want to eat the same thing and do things in the same way as before. But you have to learn how people are and how they like things. That's the same in any country."
Now the Ivorian star is being coached by Pal Dardai, the Hungarian doing wonders in the nation's capital. Kalou discussed his philosophy on coaches.
Said Kalou: "Each coach has his way of seeing things. Of Jose Mourinho, I have learned to adapt myself and to be diverse. Carlo Ancelotti has taught me the efficiency, and Luiz Scolari, it was the dribbling, the technique, the little things. Under Guus Hiddink you had to be exact in every matter or you were embarrassed. Pal Dardai has another brushstroke added: We play together, we are a block. When we have the ball, we know what to do, and if we lose it, we know how we have to position ourselves as a group. He told us his philosophy again and again."
United States fans will be happy to learn that Kalou has flown in a fitness coach and a yoga instructor from the U.S. to help him train for Hertha. It speaks to his commitment to the game and to Hertha and to how the U.S. is fueling the club's stunning rise to prominence.
Ohne Hoffnung gibt es keine Träume! Words to live by from Salomon Kalou.
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