Three days after the culmination of the World Cup, two of the tournament’s most prominent coaches resigned their posts yesterday, though for very different reasons.

In Stuttgart, Germany, Juergen Klinsmann walked away from the German national team, carrying a backpack with two soccer balls for his children and leaving trusted assistant Joachim Loew in charge.

“I feel burned out,” Klinsmann said at a news conference while fighting back tears. “I have a great wish to be back with my family and my children and to get back into normal life.”

The 41-year-old Klinsmann stepped down four days after leading Germany to a third-place finish at the World Cup, earning praise across the nation. He ignored calls to stay, from Chancellor Angela Merkel down to the ordinary fans.

Meanwhile, in Rome, Italy coach Marcello Lippi resigned, just days after guiding the Azzurri to their fourth World Cup title. Despite widespread calls for him to stay, Lippi suggested weeks ago that he would resign.He feels he and his son, Davide, were attacked personally in the corruption scandal that has tainted Italian soccer.

“At the end of an extraordinary professional and human experience, experienced as the head of an exceptional group of players … I believe my role is over as the guide of the Italian national team,” Lippi said in a statement.

While he is not under investigation, Lippi was questioned by prosecutors before the World Cup about alleged pressure he received to select certain players for Italy’s national team. Davide Lippi is under investigation for his work at player agency GEA World.

“I will continue to coach,” Lippi said without elaborating.

Klinsmann, who won the 1990 World Cup title as player, was a novice coach when he was unexpectedly given one of the biggest jobs in soccer two years ago. He delegated much of the practical work and, in Loew, has left a handpicked successor who is likely to keep the team’s open, attacking and entertaining style.

“He was never an assistant, he was a partner who had his own areas of responsibility,” Klinsmann said of Loew.

Loew won the German Cup in 1997 as coach of Stuttgart and the Austrian championship in 2002 with FC Tirol Innsbruck. He has also coached in Turkey. His two-year deal runs through the 2008 European Championship, cohosted by Switzerland and Austria.

Klinsmann boldly promised that Germany would win its fourth World Cup title. Although he fell short of that goal, his young team captured the nation’s imagination and swayed even its biggest critics. He dropped some veterans, brought in American fitness trainers, composed his staff of trusted, former teammates and, most important, changed the team’s safety-first style into fast-paced, attacking soccer.

His methods were met with skepticism and open criticism from many in the press and the soccer establishment. By the time the World Cup was over, Klinsmann had become a national hero, but he remained vague about extending his contract, which ended with the World Cup.

He didn’t watch Sunday’s final and went to a Black Forest resort for two days to think things over and consult with his American wife, Debbie. Klinsmann never gave up his home in California, and his commute to Germany was a main source of friction between him and the soccer establishment.

Lippi denied reports before the final linking him to Manchester United, saying that since he doesn’t speak English it would be impossible for him to work for the Premier League club. He hasn’t announced his future plans.

Former Italy and AC Milan midfielder Roberto Donadoni has been touted as a possible successor to Lippi.After starting coaching in 2001, Donadoni joined Livorno in 2004,stepping down this year despite leading the Tuscan team to an unexpectedly high sixth place finish in Serie A.

Lippi, who replaced Giovanni Trapattoni after Italy was eliminated in the group stage of the 2004 European Championships,led the team on a 25-game unbeaten streak, the Azzurri’s secondlongest streak since going 30 games without defeat from 1935–39.

Lippi visited Gianluca Pessotto, whom he coached at Juventus, at a Turin hospital after announcing his decision. Pessotto has been hospitalized with multiple fractures after falling from the roof at the club’s headquarters June 27 in what Italian press described as a suicide attempt.