STOCKHOLM.- Swedish coach Sven-Goran Eriksson, who was in charge of the national team Mexico At the time, he revealed that he suffers from cancer and that he could have less than a year to live.
The former football coach of England y Mexico He told Swedish radio station Radio P1 that he discovered he had cancer after suffering a sudden collapse. Last February he announced that he would reduce his public appearances due to health problems.
“Everyone understands that I have a disease that is not good, and everyone guesses that it is cancer and it is,” said the coach in an interview published on Thursday.
Eriksson said he was suffering from inoperable pancreatic cancer.
“At best I have maybe a year left, at worst maybe a little less,” he added.
The 75-year-old coach said he was trying to think positively.
“I could think about it all the time, sit at home, be in a bad mood, think I’m unlucky and all that,” he declared. “I think that’s easy.”
“No, look at things positively and don’t wallow in adversity. Because this is, of course, the biggest setback,” he added.
Eriksson was England’s first foreign manager, between 2001 and 2006, after making his name by winning league titles with clubs such as Lazio in Italy, Benfica in Portugal and IFK Gothenburg in his native Sweden.
Eriksson led what was considered the “golden generation”, with players such as David Beckham, Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney, in the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, where they reached the quarter-finals before losing to Brazil and Portugal, respectively.
In the other major tournament played under Eriksson — the 2004 Euro — England was eliminated in the quarterfinals, also against Portugal and in the penalty shootout, as would happen two years later at the World Cup in Germany.
Cycle with little success in Mexico:
He also coached the Mexico national team between 2008 and 2009. He was fired in the middle of a poor campaign in the qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup.
His last coaching position was with the Philippine national team, between 2018 and 2019, and he recently served as sports director of Karlstad, a club in the Swedish third division.
Source: AP
