The Fan

Eriksson to quit after World Cup

The BBC is reporting that Sven-Goran Eriksson will quit as England coach following this summer’s World Cup finals.

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Sven Goran Eriksson at Highbury

Given that Arsenal started game with 11 foreign players, and that Middlesborough were reduced to fielding a team of youngsters, what exactly was Eriksson doing at Highbury on Saturday?

Surely the England manager could have found a more useful game to watch.

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England have been drawn in Group B with Paraguay, Sweden and Trinidad & Tobago.

Hosts Germany will be happy with their group stage opposition, but Italy ranked 12 in the FIFA world rankings face the Czech Republic (ranked 2nd), USA (ranked 8th), and Ghana.

The full draw is:

GROUP A Germany, Costa Rica, Poland, Ecuador

GROUP B England, Paraguay, Trinidad & Tobago, Sweden

GROUP C Argentina, Ivory Coast, Serbia & Montenegro, Holland

GROUP D Mexico, Iran, Angola, Portugal

GROUP E Italy, Ghana, USA, Czech Republic

GROUP F Brazil, Croatia, Australia, Japan

GROUP G France, Switzerland, South Korea, Togo

GROUP H Spain, Ukraine, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia

Comments

Two late Owen goals beat Argentina

A thoroughly entertaining friendly saw England beat Argentina 3-2 with 2 goals in the last 5 minutes.

Both sides played good attacking football and at times Argentina showed why they are ranked second in the world against a shaky looking England defence.

‘Eriksson in successful substitution shock’

How much Eriksson learnt about his players or formation I’m not sure, but I think the country at least regained some faith in the manager’s ability to change games (for the better).

By bringing Cole on for King, and switching Gerrard into the holding position, England became much more likely to score as Argentina began to sit on their 2-1 lead. And while, Crouch wasn’t able to get directly involved, Owen certainly capitalised, suddenly finding space in the Argentinian defence to score the 2 winning goals.

Robinson and Rooney were the highlights for England, with the midfielders all playing well in patches.

The defence needs work: Ferdinand and Terry never seem ‘together’ for me, and Bridge was obviously off the pace., but on the whole a very encouraging fixture in a game that the FA must be congratulated for arranging. A perfect friendly.

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