The Hindu : Sport / Football : Eriksson's legacy on the line in final Scolari showdown

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Saturday, Jul 01, 2006

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Eriksson's legacy on the line in final Scolari showdown

Richard Williams

Baden-Baden: It is a mere eight weeks since Brian Barwick flew back from Lisbon and sources within the FA let it be known that Luiz Felipe Scolari had agreed to succeed Sven-Goran Eriksson as England's head coach.

Within 24 hours, appalled by the sudden arrival of a pack of English media representatives outside his front door and alarmed at the prospect of further invasions of his private life, Scolari announced that he had no intention of accepting the FA's offer. A week later Steve McClaren, Eriksson's assistant, was informed that the job was his.

In Gelsenkirchen on Saturday, Eriksson and McClaren meet Scolari in a match to determine whether England or Portugal goes through to the semifinals of the World Cup. But an irresistible sub-plot gives the England management the chance to win back some of the competitive honour lost when Scolari twice outwitted it on the biggest days in the recent history of English football, in the quarterfinals of the last two major tournaments.

Victory this time would allow Eriksson to achieve his minimum ambition of shepherding England to the last four, as well as opening up the opportunity to make it all the way to the summit. However, should a further defeat follow those inflicted by Scolari at the helm of Brazil in the 2002 World Cup and of Portugal in Euro 2004, then Eriksson's appointment in 2001 would be forever branded by the English as a disappointment at best and a disaster at worst.

"Say whatever you like," Eriksson replied with his rather appealing new brusqueness when asked if he saw this match as a head-to-head contest between himself and a Brazilian counterpart who, at 57, is the younger of the two by nine months.

"I don't feel it's me against Scolari at all, and you will never put that in my head. It's England versus Portugal in the quarterfinals of the World Cup."

Nor, quite properly, was he willing to speculate on how Scolari might have handled England. "I have absolutely no idea," he said. He did suggest that the volatile Brazilian might not have shown much patience with the media pack. "He would throw you out," he said, thereby reminding his listeners of the unfailing good manners with which he has managed five years of hostile questioning, ranging from the impertinent to the insulting.

Looking ahead to Saturday's meeting in the light of a shared history, Gary Neville rejected the notion that the two defeats at Scolari's hands had made it into something of a revenge match. "It's not the way I'm looking at it," he said. "He personally hasn't nobbled us. He was managing Brazil, and a very good Portugal team on home soil. I have to say that in those two games you couldn't begrudge them the victory. Four years ago, Brazil, even with 10 men, were better than us.

"Coming out of the game in 2004 I couldn't say Portugal didn't deserve to win. Some things went against us — Rooney going off and a disallowed goal — but even at the time I thought, `Fair enough, they played well.' I hope on Saturday we can be the team that plays well and goes through."

The result will inevitably be seen, at least to some extent, as a victory for one style of coaching over another. Whereas Eriksson embodies the virtues of calm preparation and lavish attention to detail, Scolari stands for passion, motivation and improvisation. To some extent these assumptions are based on convenient national stereotypes — the methodical north European and the emotional South American — but there is a significant element of truth in both character sketches.

Were Scolari to prevail again, it would be taken as confirmation that Eriksson had failed in the task of motivating a group of talented English players and was insufficiently flexible in his tactical approach to cope with the highest level of competition. An England victory, by contrast, would enable the Swede to claim that he had overseen a process of steady evolution during his five-and-a-half years in charge, allowing him — whatever the outcome of the semifinal — to leave office with honour and the nation's thanks, as well as a large cheque.

For McClaren, awaiting the launch of his own regime, victory would grease the slipway. Defeat, however, would be the equivalent of a torpedo amid ships. Rather than managing a smooth transition from one era to another, he would face the need to reassemble a squad out of the wreckage of the present campaign.

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