Sven

Although I'm not an England fan when it comes to football, I do follow the news. And what is in the football columns lately is news about Sven-Goran Eriksson, the Swedish trainer of the England national football team.

Apparantly he had an affair with a woman who is working within the FA. On top of that, this woman had an affair with Mark Palios, the FA ex-president. Palios resigned a couple of days ago due to this scandal. But just so you know, Sven is unmarried and was involved in an affair before, with Ulrika Jonsson.

Anyway, what startles me is that Sven's position is being considered because of this affair he had. Not because of his achievements with the England squad in World Cup 2002 and Euro 2004. Which I find weird.

Since becoming coach of England in 2001, what has Sven done? The team have only one moment of magic so far, beating Germany 5-1 in Munich for the 2002 World Cup qualifier. That's it. In the World Cup 2002 England didn't do really well but went to the quarter-finals before being beaten by a Ronaldinho free-kick and against a 10 man Brazil as well. In Euro2004 England again looked shaky and in the quarter finals lost against Portugal on penalties.

On top of that, Sven has been using the same dull tactics over and over again. He has too much confidence in Beckham, when the whole world can see that he is not playing at the level he used to. He still picks Emile Heskey despite being an aboslute donkey. He plays more defensively than Italy. If this was in another country he would have been fired long ago just based on the results. Look what Holland did to Dick Advocaat. Or Germany to Rudi Voller. But instead, Sven got a contract extension which goes on until 2008.

And now he has this affair, an affair where both parties are not cheating on a spouse, and suddenly the English FA is considering Sven's position. What's wrong over there? For me, I don't care who he shags as long as he can bring results. No results, then he's out. Simple. But then again the two previous England coaches have been fired because of non-footballing issues too. Tabloids have more power than on-the-field results...

Oh well, enough about Sven. All I care about is how Marco van Basten will do with Holland. I'm telling you, San Marco will be Holland's saviour!