World Cup 2006 Blog

Was Sven the Strangest International Appointment of All Time? Posted: 03 Apr 2009 09:06 AM PDT Sven-Göran Eriksson got his marching orders from the Mexican football federation yesterday. Not a huge surprise after some dreadful results (Mexico should not be losing to Jamaica) and seems it was the 3-1 loss away to Honduras that put the final nail in Sven’s Mexican managerial coffin. “The decision was made because we could not risk Mexico’s participation in the World Cup,” said federation president Justino Compean. Which was a polite way of saying the federation didn’t trust Sven to get them to South Africa. And so arguably the strangest and worst interntational managerial appointment of all time comes to a close. Steve McClaren and Steve Staunton were bad choices for England and Ireland respectively, but at least the two men were English and Irish. From the second Sven was appointed, his face didn’t really fit. Mexican football is passionate to say the least, while Sven has that air of icy calm about him. I always though he seemed like a substitute teacher just filling in because the real guy was running late. And he didn’t even speak Spanish when he took the job. If Mexico has to go down the route of hiring a fashionably foreign manager, they could at least have found someone who spoke the lingo. To be fair to Sven he seems to have mastered it less than a year after taking the job. So at least he got something out of his Mexican adventure. Well, that plus the usual sweet sweet compensation package. From Times Online: It is believed that the Mexican federation will have to pay Eriksson about £2 million after dismissing him, the Swede's third seven-figure payoff in three years. He is said to have received compensation of about £3 million from the FA after standing down as England head coach in 2006 and another £1 million when he parted company with Manchester City. So there you have it. Sven-Göran Eriksson: bad at international managemenet, good at getting paid to be sacked. Man’s a genius. For more on the Mexican national team, visit Mexico World Cup Blog

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