I could never be Churchill ... and I know Gareth won’t be like Trump!
England’s current manager summed up the Eriksson era in one damning sentence, so what does Sven expect from Southgate’s team?
S VEN- GORAN E RI KSS ON’ S parting shot to the assembled media when he left the England job in 2006 concerned Wayne Rooney: ‘ Don’t kil l him, you need him’.
Rooney is still only 32, younger than Cristiano Ronaldo, so there is a tinge of sadness in Eriksson’s voice today that his golden boy is no l onger willing or able to compete against the best in Russia.
‘ You can never take away his England and Manchester United goalscoring records. Why he never had a great World Cup, I don’t know, it’s a pity,’ muses Eriksson, t his country’s f i rst overseas manager between 2001 and 2006 when he reached three major quarter-finals.
‘At 32, Wayne should be at his peak, still, but obviously he’s not. Everton used him as a second striker, central midfielder, so I don’t know what he is now. And, no, the press didn’t kill him. They slaughtered David Beckham after the 1998 World Cup but not Rooney.’
R o o n e y ’s demise symbolises the breakneck pace of change in English football. Gareth Southgate’s World Cup squad contains only five survivors from 2014 and none from Fabio Capello’s party eight years ago. Yet there remains a direct connection to Eriksson’s time, Southgate himself. He won 16 of his 57 caps under the Swede and was in the squad for the 2002 World Cup in Japan.
He didn’t play, but the defender delivered the tournament’s most memorable quote when he remarked about Sven’s half-time team talk against Brazil. ‘ We needed Churchill but we got Iain Duncan Smith.’ Eriksson i s without rancour about the comment. ‘I love Churchill, have read his books and seen documentaries about him. He could speak. I couldn’t, not the same. So my style was completely different. ‘I tried to analyse things we could do better and when I spoke to players it was never shouting or a loud voice. It was always very calm, good or bad, but that’s me. ‘ You r e member ( Giovanni) Trapattoni, he’d stand on the bench shouting. A Juventus player was once asked what he was s c r e a ming a b o u t a n d replied: “I don’t know”. ‘That was Trapattoni. Then you take Arsene Wenger, sitting more than he is standing, very rarely shouting. Of course you can achieve success in different ways but you have to be yourself.’ Eriksson is an a d mi r e r of how Southgate behaved. ‘He was always a thinker, not one who di d t r a i ni ng a nd then went home and switched off,’ says Eriksson. ‘ He always thought about the way his team played, where they were strong or weak.
‘He was unlucky in 2002 because we had (Sol) Campbell and (Rio) Ferdinand, really world- class centre-halves. Probably he was disappointed, but he never showed it, never gave any problems.
‘Now he is the manager. I believe he will prepare properly what he has to say at half-time, in those few minutes you have. He will analyse, not just shouting. That’s how I knew him.’
Eriksson has turned 70 with a life and career gone full circle. After 40 years of globetrotting from Sweden to Portugal, Italy, England, Mexico, Ivory Coast and most recently four years in China, he has been back home for 10 months since his last job with Shenzhen.
Home is a splendid mansion surrounded by lakes and pine forests in the small town of Sunne in the west of Sweden, just a few miles down the road from Torsby, where he grew up.
‘I’m involved in the local team in Torsby where I started playing. Not as coach, but to help find players or advise. They are in the fifth division so we want to get them back up again,’ he explains.
‘The club also organise a Svennis Cup every August for 140 youth teams. It keeps me busy.
‘I always told myself I wouldn’t be desperate to be a manager for my whole life, and I’m not. If something interesting happens, then you can jump on it. I would return to China again because I liked it very much. It is still very popular there to have grey hair.
‘They look very much for experience and in 15 years, China will be a world power in football. The big man (President Xi Jinping) is a football fan.’
Eriksson still travels a lot and retains a strong interest in English football. He is excited
about the new generation that Southgate will take to Russia, particularly Harry Kane.
‘Without injuries, if he’s not too tired, he’ll have a great World Cup. He is strong, is good with his head, can do things on his own and is a born goalscorer. Everything.
‘Whichever team I was in charge of, I’d like to have him and the World Cup can make him an even bigger star if he gets seven or eight goals and England go to the semi-finals.’
Eriksson thinks England will do well because of the pace in their forward line. Mention Marcus Rashford and there is a sharp exhale of breath, a whooshing sound to denote speed.
‘ I have seen Rashford many times and I like him ,’ says Eriksson. ‘As a manager you look for players who can change a game by themselves. Rashford is one of them. He has something.
‘Dele Alli is another one. Not the same pace as Rashford but can dribble. Raheem Sterling 23 goals last season, fantastic. All-round, England are very good. Counterattacks, I can see them very strong in this tournament.’
Does Eriksson worry that Jose Mourinho’s tough stance with Rashford will dent the 20-yearold’s confidence this summer? ‘ Now the season at United is finished he is in the England squad, has a new manager, a new tournament. I don’t think it will have an effect.’
Eriksson has been through the World Cup machine three times; twice with England and later with Ivory Coast in 2010.
There is a faint sense of amusement at the attempts England feel they need to make to keep their players occupied for a few weeks of tournament football. ‘ At my first World Cup in 2002 I was surprised by the playroom, it was amazing,’ he says with a smile.
‘I was used to Italy and Italian players can sit for hours in the coffee shop chatting. When England had a day off in Japan, I remember David Beck ham asking if they could go shopping.
‘England players get more bored ( than Italy) but I think it’s the same for Swedish players as well. That’s why they try to have their hotel in the middle of the city.’
With England due to face Belgium’s Eden Hazard in their final group game, Eriksson — who came up a gainst Cristiano Ronaldo in South Africa — warns about obsessing over your rivals.
‘Every England player will know what Hazard is good at. Of course you don’t want to let him turn with the ball, but don’t speak about it too much.
‘We mentioned Ronaldo in our game for Ivory Coast, make a free-kick if necessary, don’t sell yourself one against one.
‘If England or anyone else put up a strategy based only on how the opponent play, then you are not a big team.’
Once, that was Eriksson’ s responsibility. Now it’s time for his former player to plan tactics and do the half-time team talk.
Any politician comparisons spring to mind? ‘ How I know Southgate to be, he is not Donald Trump. Absolutely not,’ says the Swede, smiling.