Sven-Goran Eriksson appointed Mexico coach

June 4, 2008

The Federation of Mexican Football (FMF) have confirmed that Sven Goran Eriksson will lead the national team to the 2010 FIFA World Cup Finals in South Africa, replacing caretaker boss Jose Ramirez.

The former England coach arrived in Mexico on Sunday night just a few hours before his current club Manchester City announced he was leaving the Eastlands side by mutual consent, having spent only one season coaching in the English Premier League.

Eriksson, who led England to the 2002 and 2006 World Cup Quarter Finals, will be expected to lead Mexico to the 2010 World Cup Finals and to improve on Mexico’s second round achievement in 2006.

The Swede was ostensibly the third choice for the job with the federation having approached former national boss Javier ‘ El Vasco’ Aguirre, who preferred to stay at Atletico Madrid and then subsequently Portugal handler Luiz Felipe Scolari, whose wage demands were judged to be excessive.

Eriksson made a great start to life at City, but his departure became inevitable after a disappointing second half of the campaign which saw City’s push for a UEFA Cup spot falter.

Eriksson’s year in charge of City saw a remarkable turnaround in the fortunes of a club that had spent the previous campaign on the fringe of the relegation battle. Astute buys like the Brazilian playmaker Elano and Bulgarian winger Martin Petrov enabled City to spend over the first half of the season challenging for a place in the top four while playing an attractive brand of football.

The Swede becomes the ninth foreign coach to manage the Mexican national team. He boasts a great managerial record, having won titles in Sweden, Portugal and Italy as well as the UEFA Cup and Cup Winners Cup in a managerial career which has included Gothenburg, Benfica, Roma, Fiorentina, Sampdoria and Lazio.

Hugo Sanchez, a former Mexican footballing great, was let go in March for failing to guide Mexico to the Olympics in Beijing. Since then Mexico’s well-respected youth coach, Jesus Ramirez, had been in charge of El Tri.

Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.