Sven-Goran Eriksson looks back on his time at England with an awful lot of frustration, but there is one day all Three Lions fans will remember forever
Sven-Goran Eriksson is still raging with the goal England conceded in their iconic 5-1 victory over Germany 23 years on.
The Swede did not endure too many great days over the course of his rollercoaster six years in charge of the Three Lions. However, there is one victory he oversaw which is still considered to be one of the greatest results in English football history.
At the time, his hopes of leading England out at the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan were hinging on a rare qualification victory in Munich. Not only did they secure the three points they desperately needed, they did it by blowing the Germans away.
Yet, when he looks back on the result, there is still one part of the game that infuriates him to this day.
Germany took the lead when Carsten Jancker latched upon a flicked header and beat David Seaman to the ball to give his country the lead. Arsenal legend Sol Campbell was the closest England player to the ex-Bayern Munich hitman, but he did not recover quickly enough to stop him.
Watching the goal back as part of the Amazon Prime documentary ‘SVEN’ that is chronicling his life, he said: “S***. Absolutely s***!”
He also took aim at Campbell, saying: “It was too easy. Sol Campbell was too slow. [He was] 100 kgs. You couldn’t expect him to be quick.”
A fixture which looked set to potentially derail England’s World Cup hopes and Eriksson’s job suddenly turned on its head. Six minutes after Germany took the lead, Michael Owen bundled home an equaliser from Nick Barmby’s knock-down.
On the stroke of half-time, Steven Gerrard fired England into the lead, before Owen scored his second of the game two minutes into the restart. He would then go on to complete a stunning hat-trick by converting a wonderful pass from Gerrard before Emile Heskey made the result a rout by cooly slotting home a one-on-one.
While the result is easily the best of Eriksson’s spell as England boss, the Swede admits it may have been more beneficial if they had scraped a 1-0 victory instead. Looking back on the game, he added: “Everything went right. Everything.
“I think we were all proud to have played in that game, but, maybe it would have been better winning 1-0. According to a part of the press, we had already won the World Cup. We were not even qualified.”
England went on to beat Albania 2-0 in their next match to leave themselves needing a mere draw at home to Greece to qualify for the tournament. Yet, Greece stunned Eriksson’s side by taking the lead on two occasions.
As the Three Lions stared down the barrel of not qualifying for the 2002 World Cup, Beckham whipped in an iconic free-kick at Old Trafford to secure a 2-2 draw and send England to Japan and South Korea, where they would be knocked out at the quarter-final stage by eventual winners Brazil.
Join our new WhatsApp communityand receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
Learn more
Sky has slashed the price of its Sky Sports, Sky Stream, Sky TV and Netflix bundle in an unbeatable new deal that saves £216 and includes 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more.
With Ultra HD included at no extra cost, football fans can enjoy the 2024/25 season with crystal clear picture quality.