Voller - has done well despite limited experience (Allsport)

By Paul Walker, PA Sport, Seoul

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Rudi Voller inspires his players and gets their respect in one simple way. He throws his medals on the table and says "Beat that!"

Having taken over in the aftermath of the shambles of Euro 2000, Voller stands on the brink of a World Cup final.

As a player he has been there, done that and got the T-shirt and his track record means he knows what he is talking about in pure practical terms, if his tactics are far from revolutionary.

Voller is from the school that says it is a simple game complicated by coaching.

Now he is one game away from leading his side into next Sunday's final in Yokohama.

If Germany claim their fourth World Cup, he will emulate the legendary Franz Beckenbauer, who played in the 1974 winning side and coached Voller and co to the 1990 success.

Voller's coaching background was minimal when he took over. Following his retirement in 1996, Voller took on an advisory role with Bayer Leverkusen and became their sporting director.

Four years later the German football association, the DFB, appointed him as their caretaker coach, despite him having no managerial experience.

He was initially given the job for 18 months as Leverkusen had refused to release national manager-elect Christoph Daum from his contract.

Daum subsequently resigned from his post at Leverkusen after testing positive for cocaine, and then had his job offer removed by the DFB.

That handed Voller an extended run and he was rewarded for leading Germany into the World Cup finals by an extended contract until 2006.

His players clearly respect him, and he has slowly pulled together a nation rife with crisis, none more so than after the 5-1 mauling handed out by England.

Now Voller is still in the competition and England are back home.

"Nobody gave us a chance out here but we have proved everybody wrong," he said.

Voller is a laid-back coach and has earned the respect of his players through his achievements as a star of the German national side.

His playing background is hugely impressive. Voller represented the national side in three finals campaigns, winning the tournament in 1990 as part of the brilliant German side that also featured Andreas Brehme, Lothar Matthaus and Jurgen Klinsmann.

But that campaign was not all plain sailing for the Hanau-born hitman.

He was part of the fracas with Holland's Frank Rijkaard in their second-round clash which ended with both men being sent off and the Dutchman spitting in Voller's hair.

But from the depths of that incident came the joy of lifting the trophy just days later - the pinnacle of Voller's career so far.

He also won the European Championship, European Cup, French title and Italian Cup during a playing career which stretched from 1977 to 1996 and took him to clubs like Roma and Marseille.

His 47 goals in 90 internationals make him the third highest German scorer of all time behind Gerd Muller and Joachim Streich and level with Klinsmann.

Now he stands on the brink of his greatest triumph ever - turning Germany from a shambles to world champions in two years.

And with their tradition of producing results regardless of whether they are playing well or badly, Voller might just give his nation their fourth World Cup, equalling Brazil's total.