England’s Soccer Team Gets a Swedish Coach
England, the nation that invented soccer, shrugged off a century of tradition Tuesday by hiring the first foreign coach of its national team, Sven Goran Eriksson of Sweden.
Football Assn. chief executive Adam Crozier said that Eriksson, who led Lazio of Rome to the Italian League title last season, agreed to a five-year contract that starts July 1, when his deal with Lazio expires.
Eriksson replaces Kevin Keegan, who resigned 3 1/2 weeks ago after England lost, 1-0, at Wembley to Germany in its opening qualifier for the 2002 World Cup.
A title winner at the club level in Sweden, Portugal and Italy, Eriksson appears to have the right credentials to improve England’s embarrassingly poor record of only one major title since it began playing international championship soccer 50 years ago.
But the 52-year-old Swede will have to ride a storm of controversy over his appointment.
Players association leader Gordon Taylor slammed the move, saying an England team should always be led by an Englishman.
“I am disappointed but not surprised at that reaction,” Crozier said. “But we have got to move on and stop thinking about the way it has been.”
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Premier League leader Manchester United was too good for first-division leader Watford with a 3-0 victory in the third round of the League Cup at London.
In the upset of the night, first-division Birmingham ousted Premier League Tottenham, 3-1.
In another upset, first-division Tranmere defeated Leeds, 3-2.
Middlesbrough was the third Premier League team eliminated, losing, 1-0, to Wimbledon.
Jurisprudence
Four more jurors were seated for the Rae Carruth murder trial at Charlotte, N.C., bringing the total number on the panel to nine--five men and four women.
One of the men selected is a former criminal defense attorney who admitted he knew many of the potential witnesses but said it wouldn’t distract him in evaluating testimony and evidence.
Attorneys expect it could take the rest of the week to select three additional jurors and four alternates.
Carruth, a former wide receiver for the Carolina Panthers, is charged with first-degree murder.
The head of the International Cycling Union testified at Lille, France, that officials have tried to prevent the use of banned substances to improve athletic performance but that ultimate responsibility rests with the athlete.
ICU President Hein Verbruggen was summoned to testify in the trial of Richard Virenque, the star of the Festina cycling team, and eight of his former colleagues, who face a variety of drug-related charges stemming from a drug scandal during the 1998 Tour de France.
The Romanian Olympic Committee is suing the International Olympic Committee over the loss of Andreea Raducan’s gymnastics gold medal for a positive drug test.
Raducan, 17, lost her Olympic gold medal in the individual competition because she took two cold pills that contained the banned stimulant pseudoephedrine.
The gymnastics federation and the Romanian Olympic Committee declined to comment.
Tennis
Andre Agassi returned to action two months after his early exit from the U.S. Open and defeated Thomas Johansson, 6-4, 6-2, to reach the third round of the Stuttgart Masters Series at Stuttgart, Germany.
Agassi, the Australian Open champion who had finished 1999 ranked No. 1 in the world, had little trouble ousting Johansson.
Breaking serve for a 5-4 lead, Agassi served out the first set. He dropped the first two games of the second, but then took the next six to close out the match.
Two-time French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten also advanced to the third round, defeating Nicolas Escude, 7-6 (8), 7-6 (1).
Elena Dementieva and Jelena Dokic had easy victories to reach the second round of Sparkassen Cup at Leipzig, Germany.
Dementieva beat former French Open champion Iva Majoli, 6-2, 6-3. Dokic beat Andrea Glass, 6-2, 6-2.
Miscellany
A Swedish businessman will face a bribery investigation in connection with Stockholm’s failed bid for the 2004 Olympics.
Chief prosecutor Christer van der Kwast said in an interview with Swedish radio that “there is a reason to suspect bribery” in the case of OM Gruppen Chairman Olof Stenhammar.
Van der Kwast said the investigation will focus on a previously unknown $50,000 transaction between Stenhammar and a public relations consultant.
Mount St. Mary’s basketball Coach Jim Phelan, the winningest active coach in the NCAA, announced he has prostate cancer but that it was detected at an early stage. Phelan is 809-463 over 46 seasons at the small Maryland school, where he expects to spend at least another season without missing a game. . . . McDonald’s All-American Travon Bryant will be eligible to play basketball for Missouri next semester after earning a qualifying score on the SAT exam. . . . Virgil Hill and Fabrice Tiozzo have rescheduled their World Boxing Assn. cruiserweight title fight for Dec. 9 in France. . . . Britain’s Steve Redgrave said he is retiring from international rowing, a month after winning a gold medal for the fifth consecutive Olympics. . . . Golfer Jim Furyk withdrew from this week’s Tour Championship in Atlanta because of an injured wrist.
