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What people learn in their lifetime is to accept reality.

"I've had a blessed life. I think we all fear the day we die, but life is also about death."

Earlier this year, 76-year-old Swedish football coach Sven-Goran Eriksson said in a documentary that he had only one year left to live due to pancreatic cancer and no chance of surgery, so he decided to face it calmly.

In the last year of his life, Eriksson decided to complete his "bucket list". He visited Benfica, Sampdoria, Gothenburg and other places where he had fought before, received applause and blessings from fans and former students, and even fulfilled his dream of coaching Liverpool.

He once wrote in his autobiography: "I have achieved many great successes, but I have also done many stupid mistakes. In the end, I realized that only death can separate me from football."

On August 26, Eriksson died in Sweden, and he parted ways with football.

England's former manager

Before this year's European Cup final, Eriksson was not in good health and had been traveling back and forth between the hospital and his residence. But he still took the time to write a letter to Gareth Southgate, the then England national team coach.

In the letter, Eriksson, the former England national team coach, expressed his understanding and sympathy for the pressure Southgate was under. He then said that the England national team was full of talent and had a strong lineup, and had a chance to beat Spain and win the championship. Finally, he hoped that Southgate could lead the England team to accomplish the miracle that he had failed to accomplish.

As a result, England did not lose to Spain miraculously, and watched their opponents win their fourth European Cup trophy. Southgate also lost his job and became the former coach of the England national team like Eriksson.

Eriksson takes charge of the England national team. Photo/Visual China

In fact, it is because Eriksson became the head coach of the England national team that he became more familiar to more people, even though he had proven his ability in Benfica in Portugal and Lazio in Italy.

Between 2001 and 2006, Eriksson became the first foreign coach in the history of the England team. He once made a bet with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair on who could stay in office longer.

"We both know that it's impossible to finish these two jobs. Sooner or later, we will be fired." Blair said to Erickson. In the end, Blair won the bet and Erickson became the first one to be fired.

Being fired by the England team might have been the inevitable outcome when Eriksson took over the England national team, but no one expected that the final breakup between the two sides would turn out like that.

Since he is not British, Eriksson has been questioned by many people in the UK since he took office. The Swede Eriksson has repeatedly stated that although Swedish football is deeply influenced by Germany, he is a loyal believer in the traditional "British 442" and is confident that he can lead England to glory.

Eriksson may have experienced the best time of English football. Beckham, Rooney, Owen, Ferdinand, Terry, Lampard, Gerrard... these "ancient legends" active in football forums were all players under his command. But in fact, they did not bring much outstanding results to Eriksson.

Until he was fired, Eriksson had not figured out world-class problems such as how Lampard and Gerrard can coexist, whether Beckham can play in the middle, and how to use Walcott.

Even when Eriksson himself recalled that experience, the only thing he could mention repeatedly was the 5:1 victory over Germany in the European group stage of the 2001 World Cup qualifiers. In the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan, England lost to a stunning overhead kick by Brazilian star Ronaldinho and was eliminated in the quarterfinals. In the 2006 World Cup in Germany, England lost to Portugal on penalties and missed the semifinals again. In that World Cup, if Beckham hadn't forced his team to "save face", Eriksson's team would not have made it to the quarterfinals.

Eriksson (left), Beckham (right) Photo/Visual China

More importantly, Eriksson never seemed to be recognized by the British media, which frequently exposed his private life to the public, with one "zipper gate" incident after another, to prove that the Swede came to us on vacation rather than coach.

Of course, Eriksson did give face, and all kinds of gossip and scandals emerged one after another, providing the media with a constant stream of topics and traffic. In early 2006, the media conducted a "fishing enforcement" against Eriksson, leaving him with no way out.

A media reporter disguised himself as a sheikh and told Eriksson at a dinner in Dubai that he had made a fortune and was ready to invest in football. He also decided to hire Eriksson as the head coach and promised him a 3-year contract with an annual salary of 5 million euros. After getting tipsy, Eriksson began to comment on his players, "Ferdinand is a lazy guy, Owen is a money-grubber, Rooney has no family education, Wright-Phillips is not worth 30 million..." He even revealed that Beckham was unhappy in Real Madrid and was ready to call him back.

The next day, before Eriksson woke up, the newspapers were full of news about him, with the headline "Sven's Dirty Deal". Although he explained and begged for forgiveness everywhere, the English Football Association still terminated his contract after the World Cup. The "Sheikhgate" scandal has become the thing Eriksson wants to delete most in his career.

Wandering "famous hostel"

Some people call Eriksen a wandering celebrity in the football circle. Apart from his less than successful experience with the England national team, Eriksen's coaching career still has some remarkable aspects.

Unlike many famous coaches, Eriksson's football career started from a very low point. He played in the Swedish second-level league for two years before retiring due to injury. At that time, he was faced with changing his career to become a decorator. At this time, his former coach sent an invitation, why not try to be a coach? Eriksson was only 27 years old that year.

During the few years he coached in Sweden, he became famous for leading Gothenburg to win the UEFA Cup. He then went to Portugal to coach Benfica. After winning two consecutive Portuguese Super League titles, he was invited to Italy.

At that time, the Italian Football League A was the world's top league, where almost all the world's best players played. The high-level professional league also gave coaches the opportunity to improve their level. In Rome, Florence and Sampdoria, Eriksson did not create many outstanding results.

It was not until he got the contract with Lazio that Eriksson really came to prominence. In the era of the "Seven Sisters" of Serie A, Lazio, nicknamed the "Blue Eagles", ushered in its most glorious moment at the end of the last century. At that time, Lazio was known for having no talent that could not be poached. Signori, Gascoigne, Nesta, Mihajlovic, Mancini, Veron, Nedved, Vieri, Salas, Ravanelli, Peruzzi and Simeone all played for the Blue Eagles.

As the head coach of Lazio at the time, it was hard for Eriksson not to get results with this hand. Although Lazio later had to sell players to get out of the financial crisis, Eriksson had already left for England and started another story of his own.

After leaving the England national team, Eriksson began to wander, leading Manchester City, Mexico national team, Ivory Coast national team, Leicester City Club, and hardly any team he coached for more than a year.

It is worth mentioning that during his time as Manchester City head coach, he worked with Chinese player Sun Jihai. In Sun Jihai's recollection, "Eriksen is polite to people and gentle in doing things." In fact, for a long time after Eriksen took office, Sun Jihai had no ball to play and eventually lost the opportunity to renew his contract with Manchester City.

From 2013 to 2017, Eriksen wandered to China and coached Guangzhou R&F, Shanghai SIPG and Shenzhen in the Chinese Super League.

Eriksson briefly coached the Shenzhen team. Photo/Liu Debin, China News Service

Some people say that Eriksson felt the glory of the "golden age" of the Chinese Super League and reaped the dividends of the times, and that he came to China to make money. In fact, as early as 1999, Eriksson felt the glory of the "golden age" of Serie A, and coming to China was just a revival of an old dream.

It is reported that Eriksen was once favored by the Chinese Football Association, but in the end he missed the chance to become the head coach of the national football team because of a disagreement on salary. The national football team finally chose Frenchman Perrin.

From 2018 to 2019, Eriksson coached the Philippine national team, which was also his last time standing on the sidelines as head coach.

Bucket List

About a year ago, Eriksson announced that he would suspend his football-related career due to health reasons and resigned as sports director of Swedish lower league team Karlstad.

He went to the hospital for a checkup after suffering a stroke, but was unexpectedly told that he had an aggressive form of pancreatic cancer. He received treatment, but was unable to undergo surgery.

In the last stage of his life, Eriksson announced his two wishes. The first was to revisit his football career and visit the club where he once coached and created glory; the second was to coach Liverpool.

The reason why he wanted to coach Liverpool Club was that Eriksen and his father were both loyal Liverpool fans. After learning of Eriksen's wish, Liverpool Football Club contacted him and invited him to participate in the match between Liverpool Legends and Ajax Legends as the home team coach.

With 50,000 fans in the stadium singing "You'll Never Walk Alone" in unison, the Liverpool Legends team defeated their opponents 4:2, and Eriksen burst into tears.

After visiting Lazio last year, Eriksson visited many teams this year, including Benfica and Gothenburg. The last stop was Sampdoria in Italy, where he staggered into the stadium accompanied by his former disciples Mancini, Chiesa, Evani, Seedorf and others.

Eriksen returns to Lazio Photo/Visual China

Eriksson stood on the sidelines, listening to the cheers of tens of thousands of fans. He saw his own shadow more than 30 years ago and burst into tears. Mihajlovic, a disciple who once ran on the field, died of leukemia in 2022, and another disciple Vialli also died in 2023, with pancreatic cancer like himself.

Due to physical reasons, Eriksson was unable to support long-distance flights, so it was a pity for him that he was unable to visit Shanghai and Guangdong.

In the last days of his life, Eriksson returned to Sande, Sweden, where he was born. Standing by Lake Freiken, looking at the calm water, he felt a peace he had never experienced in his life before.

Looking back on his life, Eriksson said in the documentary: "It's like a fairy tale. I had a very good life, maybe too good, but I had to pay the price for it in the end."

At the end of the documentary, Eriksson said that what people ultimately learn in life is to accept reality. I hope that after my life is over, people will remember me like this:

"Yes, he is a good man."

References:

1. "In the last year of his life, he decided to complete his "bucket list"" by Yu Ze

2. 《Eriksson's final farewell: The essence of life is also death》Phoenix News

Author: Hu Kefei ([email protected])