Career of two halves for the game's amiable globetrotter

Before drinking from the Three Lions’ poisoned chalice, Sven-Goran Eriksson enjoyed stunning success in Europe

- RICHARD JOLLY

Sven-Goran Eriksson's unassuming nature could camouflage the extraordinary nature of his footballing life. He went from being 27-year-old assistant manager in the Swedish third division to England’s first foreign manager and one of the most successful coaches of his generation.

In England, he will be mostly remembered for the ultimately underwhelming end to tournaments, the supposedly “Golden Generation” stumbling in three consecutive quarter-finals, and the sense of what might have been – though his successors, Steve McClaren and Fabio Capello, fared worse with the same players – but his feats before then give him a strong case to be Sweden’s greatest manager. He was one of the finest anywhere in the two decades before receiving a call from his agent, Athole Still, whom he assumed was joking when he asked if Eriksson was interested in the England post.

The subsequent six years were defined by missed penalties and metatarsals, by Wayne Rooney’s stamp on Cristiano Ronaldo, by David Seaman being lobbed by Ronaldinho, by fake sheikhs and Ulrika Jonsson. Within that, there were matches and moments to savour: the 5-1 demolition of Germany in Munich in 2001 remains one of the most astounding results and seismic triumphs in England’s history, lending a sense that glory beckoned. There was the cathartic win over Argentina in the 2002 World Cup group stages. There were the quarter-finals where England led, against Brazil in 2002 and Portugal in 2004, each encouraging a nation to dream. There was the eventual conclusion that Eriksson was not actually the Golden Generation’s alchemist.