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Q & A: England's Sven-Goran Eriksson
Posted: Tuesday April 23, 2002 12:27 PM
There
is a lot of interest in you. Do you not feel more pressure to talk
to the press, or does the FA control who you speak to?
No, there's an agreement between the FA and myself. The difference
between this job and being a club manager is very big. This is a
huge job and there are a lot of supporters; a club can never have
as many. So if you hold press conferences and give interviews all
the time, then you end up doing it every day, more or less. I'm
not prepared to do that, I don't think it's fair and I don't think
that England fans want to see my name in the papers every day. You
must have a lot of spare time.
How
do you spend it?
When I took this job, I thought there would be a lot of spare time,
that I would have time to travel in private. But that was a big
mistake. There's more to do as a national team manager than as a
club manager, even though you don't have daily contact with the
players. Sometimes there are as many as six games a week to see.
So I spend a lot of time travelling.
Have
you been surprised at how quickly people have taken to you, because
a lot of people were suspicious of you to start with?
I can understand why people were suspicious because I am a foreigner.
I'm a little surprised at how quickly people changed, but that's
football. If you get results, you are popular. If you lose, it goes
away very quickly.
Can
England win the World Cup?
That would be great, but let's not talk about winning the World
Cup. I think it could happen, of course. But for me the big favorites
are Argentina and France, maybe Italy.
Will
there be any surprises?
The surprise teams could be Japan and Korea because they will be
playing at home. One of the African teams always does very well
-- let's hope it's not Nigeria this time!
How
will the conditions affect you?
They will affect all of us. Maybe the northern European teams will
be affected more. But it's going to be like the United States in
1994 -- very humid and very hot. You have to try to prepare for that
by drinking a lot of water and sports drinks because you are going
to lose a lot of weight during the games. We will have to get out
there early to try to get used to it as much as possible.
How
English do you feel now?
I'm a Swede, of course, and I always will be. But I'm starting very
slowly to accept the traffic in London, and the rain -- so I feel
a little bit English.
Can
you sum up your coaching philosophy?
That's difficult, but I'll try: be very compact when you defend,
be very quick when you attack. Always remember that the goal is
out front not at the side. Whoever you are in the team, whether
you're the manager, a player, the kit man, respect is very important,
respect for everybody else in the team, the referee, the opponents.
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