Svengland off to winning start

Svengland off to winning start
Bill Barclay

BIRMINGHAM, March 1: Wednesday evening did not start well for Sven Goran Eriksson. England’s first foreign coach saw his first line-up leaked several hours before kick-off and there were puzzled looks as the media digested his first selection.

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Phil Neville at right back, Michael Owen and Andy Cole together in attack and no sign of goalkeeper David Seaman, even on the substitutes’ bench. After an opening 20 minutes in which Spain, mobilised by Ivan Helguera in midfield, refused to let England have the ball, the chances of Eriksson’s side winning 3-0 seemed as likely as Owen coming face to face with a naked man on a night cold enough to freeze the blood in England’s second-largest city.

The trigger for the transformation was United midfielder Paul Scholes.Suddenly the carrot-haired livewire began to electrify his fellow midfielders. After 31 minutes Scholes’s deft flick after a neat move he had started involving Nick Barmby and captain David Beckham almost played Owen clean through on goal.The crowd sprang to life and five minutes later Cole headed down to Owen who played through the excellent Barmby to beat Iker Casillas in Spain’s goal.

Eriksson, his breath, if not his nerves, clearly visible, applauded warmly and England’s transformation was complete as twice more they went close before the interval.

Six half-time subsititutions could not disrupt their momentum and appalling Spanish marking allowed Emile Heskey and Ugo Ehiogu to score from corners in the second period to give Eriksson a stunning, if slightly flattering, opening result in his new post.

How Spain coach Jose Antonio Camacho must have wished he had started with prolific Alaves striker Javier Moreno, whose second-half arrival as a subsititute pepped up the Spanish attack, even though he missed the late penalty he won off Ehiogu as England’s replacement goalkeeper Nigel Martyn made a smart save. That prompted one member of the 42,129 crowd to shed his clothes and embark on a body-numbing streak across the frozen Villa Park turf, pausing only to shake hands with Owen.

It is not in Eriksson’s nature to get so carried away. England managers have a habit of starting well, then failing to deliver when it counts. Eriksson’s predecessor Kevin Keegan won his opening game 3-1 against Poland, while Barmby also scored in Glenn Hoddle’s opening game.

Before that Graham Taylor had a fine record outside major championships. Yet he ended up being derided as a turnip by the English tabloids. For now though, England are very happy with their Swede. There wasn’t a vegetable to be seen on The Sun’s backpage on Thursday, just the headline “Svengland”.

Anfield in Liverpool is Eriksson’s next home from home, with Wembley being redeveloped. The game against Finland on March 24 is the first of two World Cup qualifiers in five days, the other a tricky trip to Tirana to face Albania.

--Reuters