The Teachings of Don Sven: the Swedish way of fútbol

“Mexico has several national problems … one is social injustice, another is insecurity and the third is the lack of forwards.”

The Mex Files received a mention in The Guardian Sport Blog in an article written by Marcela Mora y Araujo on Sven-Goran Eriksson, the globe-trotting coach imported from England to correct that serious national deficit.  Eriksson, a mediocre Swedish player who retired from the game in 1975 has been an outstandingly successful coach, leading Swedish, Portugese and Italian teams to international championships.

Not exactly a magician, his arrival nevertheless has connotations of the ethereal world evoked by Castaneda in his epic writings about the adventures of Don Juan. The Mexican press has come up with the moniker ‘Don Sven’ when, amid high expectations regarding preparations for the World Cup qualifiers this week – Mexico beat Jamaica 3-0 at the Azteca last Saturday and face Canada tonight

After a stint in Britain, he was hired to replace Hugo Sanchez, one of the best Mexican players of all time, but only a mediocre coach.  The biggest complaint against Sanchez was that he overlooked fundamentals (like developing forwards) when worrying about inessentials, like uniform colors.  Still he was an improvemnt over the irrasible Argentine Ricardo la Volpe, who once sent goons to rough up a TV photographer.  And feuded with everyone, including the players.

Fútbol, like war, is too important to be left to the professionals.  If Don Sven has one secret advantage over his predecessors, it is that he can’t speak a word of Spanish, and has no clue what the fans are yelling at him, or what the sports reporters are saying.  So far, though, it’s all been good.