Eriksson the Prankster

Contrary to public opinion, former England's coach Sven-Goran Eriksson is a funny guy. His biggest joke came in the form of two players selected after his takeover of the team in 2001.

David James and Theo Walcott.

When James was a promising young goalkeeper with Watford in the early 90s', his good performance caught the eyes of Liverpool, who was looking for a replacement for the crowd favourite Bruce Grobbelaar. Yet then Liverpool manager Graeme Souness soon found out that his new stopper was not as good as he was hoping for, as his Anfield career got off to a less than auspicious start.

Although rescued from the doghouse by the new manager Roy Evans, James' performance remained sub-par. His inconsistencies and costly errors have led to much consternation among the Anfield faithful. After a whopping 200-plus matches with the club (Question: How did he last that long?), Liverpool finally gave up on him, and he went to Aston Villa in 1999.

Yet he was in his same old poor form with Villa, and he then moved on to West Ham United in 2001. But in 2002, to everyone's surprise (and horror), Eriksson decided to promote James as the number one goalkeeper for England, replacing the aging David Seaman.

But why?

England definitely had some, if not many, better alternatives at the time. Though a little overweight, and not being as svelte and "elegant" as James, Nigel Martyn was a more than capable candidate for the job. But somehow Eriksson decided to keep Martyn on the bench and allow James to scare the England fans every time the ball came close to the goal-mouth.

And as James was moonlighting as a model for Italian fashion magnate Giorgio Armani at the time, many wonder whether Eriksson chose him purely for aesthetic reasons.

At the same time, James failed to save the Hammers from relegation, thereby earning him the distinction of being one of the very few first-choice goalkeepers for his country not playing top-flight soccer.

Although his performance during the European Championship in 2004 was adequate, his butter fingers remained a major concern for the fans and after a major gaffe against Austria in 2004, he was finally replaced by the reliable Paul Robinson of Tottenham Hotspur, much to the reprieve of the England fans.

Meanwhile ...

When Eriksson named the virtually untested teenager Walcott into his 2006 World Cup squad, many fans found it literally unbelievable.

How on earth could a coach select a player who has never played top flight soccer for the World Cup?

In his (weak) defence, Eriksson claimed that Walcott might be a secret weapon for the team, a la Brazil's Pele in 1958. And while Germany's coach Jurgen Klinsmann also surprised a lot of critics by selecting untested winger David Odonkor for his squad, at least Klinsmann did play him, and it was his cross which led to the only goal against Poland in the group stages. Walcott though, was probably sleeping on the bench as Eriksson never put him on the pitch, despite the shortage of strikers after the injury to Michael Owen.

And Eriksson refused to put him on the pitch even after Wayne Rooney was sent off against Portugal, leaving his team with only one out-and-out and tiring striker in Peter Crouch.

And by comparing Walcott with Pele, well, let's just say that Eriksson once again showed his light and funny side, and that only he can tell (and practise) a joke like of such comic proportions.