In the Line of Fire

The

average job tenure of an England football manager is about three minutes. After all, the team always promises so much and relentlessly disappoints, having failed to win the World Cup since 1966. Inevitably, a fall guy must be found. The latest casualty was ex-England captain Kevin Keegan, who resigned as manager in 2000 after the team lost a World Cup qualifier at home to Germany. His predecessor, Glenn Hoddle, found a more imaginative way to get booted out of the job: he disgraced himself by declaring in an interview that disabled people are paying for their sins from a former life.

	2002 FIFA World Cup Special Coverage from TIME Brazil Carves Up Turkey Weblog: Germany vs. Brazil equals a clash of football cultures • Meet TIME's World Cup squad --> The Ultimate Samba Brazil beats Germany 2-0 to cap a World Cup 2002 filled with upsets, controversy and human drama The Final Tally Assessing the good, the bad and the ugly of the Cup that was The Morning After South Korea and Japan must now ponder if the World Cup was worth footing the bill Moving on Up TIME analyzes some of those players who excelled and looks at how they increased their market value Why Some Teams Just Can't Win Although the pre-Cup form book predicted otherwise, Brazil and Germany — the usual suspects — turned up in the final more stories >>

The current holder of this dubious athletic prize—known in England as "the poisoned tracksuit"—is a 54-year-old Swede, Sven-GOran Eriksson. Needless to say, the appointment of a foreigner was greeted with howls of dismay by the English press. But Eriksson boasts a record to be reckoned with. After coaching Swedish side IFK Gothenburg to three titles in one year, including the UEFA Cup, he led Portugal's Benfica to win two consecutive league championships. He collected another shelfful of trophies in Italy as manager of Roma, Sampdoria and then Lazio. Tactically conservative, he is a master motivator. Curiously, he was a relatively mediocre player, never competing at a higher level than Sweden's second division.

So far, Eriksson has done an impressive job with the England team. Under his tutelage, they won five key matches on the trot, including a 5-1 drubbing of old foe Germany. Now, Eriksson's winning streak may be under imminent threat. Captain David Beckham is still recovering from a broken bone in his foot, midfielder Steven Gerrard has a groin injury, and Kieron Dyer is doubtful because of a busted knee. In recent weeks, Eriksson has dealt with the added irritation of a media frenzy over his reported affair with TV presenter Ulrika Jonsson. Eriksson—who commented that "private is private"—was living at the same time with his Italian girlfriend.

If Eriksson's wounded warriors fare poorly in the World Cup's dreaded "Group of Death," the press is likely to bay for his blood. Luckily, Eriksson has some outside interests to cheer him up, including a professed love of Tibetan poetry. Lately, he has also lent his name to several commercial ventures, launching a compilation of classical music and a computer game. However, his handlers deny rumors that he plans to release a Sven-GOran Eriksson pasta sauce.