Former Germany striker and coach Jürgen Klinsmann has hit out at the country over criticism on World Cup co-hosts United States and the ruling football body FIFA.

Klinsmann, who has been living in California for many years, told the papers of the Funke publishing house that "we have developed a tendency to judge other countries even though they don't know the truth.

"We act as if we were the world’s supreme judge," he said.

The 1990 World Cup winner Klinsmann, 61, urged Germany to focus on football and to show respect for the hosts.

Criticism has ranged from the Iran war to American domestic policy under President Donald Trump as well as high ticket prices and steep increases in transportation prices at some venues of the World Cup which takes place June 11-July 19 in the US, Mexico and Canada.

Klinsmann urged fans to travel to the US to get a first-hand look, insisting that the US is a great country despite all the problems.

“If you want to get a proper picture of a country, you should do so by visiting it in person. Trying to judge everything from your armchair is exactly what bothers me,” he said.

Klinsmann also said the German team should not position itself in a political way like it had four year ago in Qatar where the team posed for a photo with their hands in front of their mouth in protest of FIFA outlawing a One-Love captain's armband.

“That's when I knew that this World Cup was going to be a complete disaster," he said, referring to Germany's group stage exit.

"That was utterly disrespectful towards the hosts. I hope we’ve learnt our lesson,” Klinsmann said, insisting you don’t become world champions by "going on and on about all sorts of socio-political issues.”