Sport 17-10-2002 England Flop Against Euro Minnows who: England football team what: Draw 2-2 with Macedonia in Euro 2004 qualifier where: St Mary`s Stadium, SOUTHAMPTON when: Last night snippet: "Victories over Germany and Argentina are not the only kind of results that can make a manager immortal," muses Matt Dickinson in The Times after Sven Goran Eriksson did his best to wipe away the memory of his triumphs last night at St Mary`s in Southampton. "Drawing 2-2 at home to Macedonia is also the sort of scoreline that, if a coach is not careful, can become the most memorable part of his CV." "Eriksson, as we have discovered over the past six months or so, is a man of many surprises," says The Guardian`s Michael Walker who is bewildered by the decision to play Wayne Bridge "on the left of midfield at the expense of Nicky Butt inside" and also Eriksson`s choice to play four at the back, reserving particular criticism for Sol Campbell, who "committed a dreadful defensive error to hand Macedonia the lead for a second time", and centre-half Jonathan Woodgate. But the worst venom is aimed at David Seaman, who was largely responsible for the first goal and The Independent`s Glenn Moore is far from the lone voice calling for "a belated halt to David Seaman`s international career" today. Last night, Eriksson didn`t show any remorse for leading his squad to a disappointing draw aginst a team ranked 90th in the world. "We shall not start to cry yet," he says, quoted in The Evening Standard. "We were unlucky when they scored a couple of times. Both goals they scored were lucky and we were a bit unlucky. We scored two and had the chance to score many more." That`s not quite how The Sun`s Shaun Custis sees it. "With the Turks notching a third successive qualifying win," he writes, "England are already looking at a play-off spot at best - as runners-up." [... more]

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