The end of the first half was drawing near and coach Sven-Goran Eriksson was scowling on the bench. England was 1-0 down against Croatia and heading out of Euro 2004 if things didn’t change.
”We were not happy on the bench at that time,” he said. When asked what he was thinking, he refused to say. ”It was not very good language.”
Then, Wayne Rooney stepped in. Five minutes from the break, he headed an assist to Paul Scholes and on the stroke of halftime, the 18-year old slotted a 22-metre shot home to give England the lead for good.
”I don’t really know what to say, he is absolutely fantastic,” Eriksson said, celebrating England’s 4-2 win and passage into the quarterfinals where it will meet host Portugal.
With those two goals, the whole complexion of the game changed.
It also helped Eriksson improve his record; the Swede has only two losses in 22 competitive games since he took over three years ago.
The losses are to World Cup champion Brazil and European champion France.
”Mentally, the team showed a lot of strength coming back,” he said.
After that, England was cruising and Eriksson’s most important contribution to the game was replacing Rooney after he scored a second goal. It gave the teenager more rest ahead of Thursday’s quarterfinal against Portugal and a standing ovation from the 40 000 England fans at the 65 000-capacity Stadium of Light.
”Rooney deserves all the attention, all the front pages and the back pages for what he is doing here,” Eriksson said.
Eriksson said Rooney was a selfless player.
”When we defend, he drops back,” he said. ”He seems to be a complete football player.”
And he sure doesn’t have to tell him how to hit the back of the net.
”How to score goals? I don’t have to tell him that. It is better that I don’t tell him.”
Eriksson’s only regret is the last three minutes of the opening match against France, when Zinedine Zidane scored twice to turn defeat into a 2-1 victory for the defending champions.
”With a bit of luck we could have had nine points,” he said. It would have made England winner of Group B, earning it a quarterfinal match against outsider Greece instead of a tough date with home-standing Portugal. – Sapa-AP