When England’s footballers trounced Germany 5-1 in the Olympic stadium in Munich on a warm evening in September 2001, a team that included Michael Owen, David Beckham and Steven Gerrard seemed to have recaptured the magic that had taken their predecessors to victory in the 1966 World Cup final at Wembley. Watching from the technical area, and perhaps as surprised as anyone by his team’s sudden discovery of an ebullient, free-scoring authority, was their new manager, a middle-aged Swede whose high forehead, rimless spectacles and reserved demeanour lent him the air of a man carrying the game’s higher calculus in his head.
Sven-Göran Eriksson, who has died aged 76, had been appointed England’s first foreign manager nine months earlier. He succeeded Kevin Keegan, who had resigned in an emotional meltdown a few minutes after losing to Germany at Wembley, making the new man’s success in Munich, in a World Cup qualifying match, seem all the more portentous. The recruitment by the Football Association of a coach who had cemented his reputation with success in Portugal, Italy and Sweden was intended to bring European tactical sophistication to bear on a flatlining England, and the plan seemed to be working.
