Luiz Felipe Scolari still wants to manage England and would
be open to negotiations were the Football Association to ask him to replace
Steve McClaren, though he is unlikely to leave his current job with Portugal
before next summer. England's 3-0 win against Israel lifted the mood in
the camp ahead of Wednesday's crucial game against Russia at Wembley,
but a bad result in that game could still lead to failure to qualify for
Euro 2008 next June.
Scolari's teams have eliminated England at the quarter-final stage of
their last three major international tournaments - Brazil in the 2002
World Cup, which they went on to win, and Portugal in Euro 2004 and last
summer's World Cup in Germany. The Brazilian would have taken on the task
of leading England in Euro 2008 qualifying had the FA waited until after
the World Cup finals to appoint him.
Instead the governing body attempted to force Scolari to commit himself
in the month ahead of the tournament. He withdrew his candidacy, and the
FA turned to McClaren. But Scolari, according to a close friend, is prepared
to forget what happened and would be keen to have a renewed offer from
England.
Though the FA insist they have no plans to replace McClaren, they have
been under pressure to consider a change of coach. Yesterday's win puts
them in a far better position in Group E, but they still need a victory
against Guus Hiddink's Russia.
Many of the current England squad are understood to have little respect
for McClaren and are said to be dismayed at what they see as his tactical
naivety as an international coach and cursory approach to scouting opponents.
McClaren could not be faulted yesterday, though, and England brushed aside
Israel with goals from Shaun Wright-Phillips, Michael Owen and Micah Richards
at a noisy Wembley.
Scolari, 58, recently announced that he would end his five-year term as
Portugal coach after the European Championships, and is considering his
future after next summer. As in 2006, he is reluctant to break his contract
with the Portuguese federation. Asked about the possibility of Scolari
becoming England manager this week, his adviser Acaz Fellegger told The
Observer: 'Felipe has a contract with Portugal until the end of Euro 2008
and after that he can go anywhere.'
Other candidates include Hiddink, who is an admirer of the English game
but has an option to coach Russia until 2010, Arsene Wenger, who last
week signed a three-year contract extension with Arsenal that has no get-out
clause, and Sam Allardyce, rejected by the FA last year.
, September 9, 2007
Russian ladies dream about happy marriage.
Click on a photo...
