Sven Takes The Fast Track From Honeymoon To Troubled Marriage

November 20th, 2008 | by: chris |

After turning down the chance to, a) coach a relatively sizable European club for big bucks or b) tour the Mediterranean with [insert name of random secretary here] for the year, instead venturing to a new continent and a country whose football he knew little about, Sven’s job security is suffering greatly with Mexico. Not a giant, but they should be beating Honduras (L), Jamaica (L) and Canada (D) pretty handily. They made it into the final stages of CONCACAF qualifying, but only just, doing so on the back of a goal difference advantage with John Barnes’ Jamaica. So the Mexican media is calling for his head, all of 6 months after he was canned in Manchester.

Understandably people were quite upset by last night’s 1-0 loss to Honduras, and they pulled no punches:

“We forced the Mexicans to their knees once more,” blared La Prensa in their morning edition, before adding: “Don’t rub your eyes, it really happened. It seems like a dream to us but it isn’t. Wake up, it’s real life.”

“Crawling pitifully into the Hexagonal”, headlined Mediotiempo.com, though the internet portal did not lay the blame on the players or head coach, instead claiming that the result was “a red warning sign highlighting the appalling planning and disproportionate ambition of Mexican football”.

“Kick him out. It only costs $4 million,” said the sports daily Record, referring to a penalty clause in Eriksson’s contract if he is sacked.

“If they want, Record will pay the first dollar.”

“We’ve qualified for the final stage but that’s where the dreams of a country could go down the drain along with millions of dollars and a golden generation,” added the newspaper.

I’d have to argue the golden generation is that of 2014 or 2018, with superstuds Carlos Vela, Giovani Dos Santos and Guillermo Ochoa still far from their primes, but point taken. Looking up the table at Honduras is never going to sit well – especially with last evening’s wound still fresh.

If he isn’t fired, and it seems unlikely that he will be just three months after his debut, he’s got til February to right the ship. But one has to wonder if the tumble that is Sven’s career will continue – this is the third straight gig which has gone a great deal less than wonderfully – as it seems Sven-Goran Eriksson the coach isn’t quite on par with Sven-Goran Eriksson the name anymore.

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Russell

I don’t think it’s Eriksson’s fault, it’s the Mexican media. The Mexican media put way too much pressure on their own players, and they treat Mexico as if it is a Brazil or Argentina! With this type of pressure (and no world cups to back it), it’s no wonder Mexico perform so poorly sometimes. Don’t get me wrong, Mexico have very great, young players, but the pressure put on them by the media is exxagerated. If Mexico is to perform well, it needs a media like the USA’s, which does not treat the team as if it is an Italy or Germnay, but one that is growing. I think if there was to be this change of mentality down south, Mexico would perform a lot better and not get pummeled by teams as lowly as Honduras and Jamaica.
alex

Mexico think that they are paper champions…How can teams like jamaica and honduras beat them?.. and tie with a second string canadian team???..i know theres alot of pressure playing in central america becuase they hate mexico but if u look at the US…they beat cuba..yes CUBA (in cuba) with a sloppy field, with the nerves etc etc..Mexico needs to wake up…eriksson is a good coach and all but the mexican style of play is very different from what hes used too….either mexico needs to play eriksson’s style of play or eriksson needs to adapt to mexico’s style…

very embarrasing
foureyedkoko

Russell copy pasted that from a comment he made on another post. I agree with alex, Sven’s style doesn’t fit Mexico, he needs to change it.