"We could have gone all the way" was Sven's summary of England's 2002 World Cup campaign.

After the amazing highs and lows of Korea and Japan the England coach has now returned to his desk in Soho Square and, before planning his assault on the forthcoming Euro 2004 qualifiers, Sven took time out to review the frustration and encouragement that he felt during the most tumultuous weeks of his footballing life.

"It was a very good experience for all of us," he said. "In particular the young players because for many of them, and indeed for me, it was the first World Cup.

"It was also good to be in Japan. We know it's far away but they conducted and organised the tournament extremely well.

"On the pitch I think we did ok. Rather well - but not perfect. With the team we had, and still have, we could have done a little bit better. Our first aim was to reach the Second Round, and then the Quarter Final, and so on.

"The one thing that we always said to the players was that with the team that we have, we should not be afraid of anyone and, if we are a little bit lucky, we could go all the way. I still think we could have done it."

Ultimately, it was the future World Champions Brazil who were to abruptly halt our heroic run at the Quarter Final stage. Having begun the game in stunning fashion, taking the lead through an impudent Michael Owen finish, we were unable to complete the job despite Brazil being reduced to ten men in the second half.

It was a trend that Sven had identified in our games throughout the tournament.

"We had too many players who were not 100% fit because they were coming back from injury and were tired," he explained.

"You could see that in the games because our problems were always in the second half. In the first half we always played good football and scored goals but in the second half we always struggled.

"I think it's a problem that we have to talk about and deal with. We have to talk to club managers, the Premier League and everybody involved. At the moment the season is too hard and too long.

"By May the players are exhausted and then they need to begin a tournament only a couple of weeks later. They need a break to recover physically and mentally, otherwise we'll always suffer from the same problem. If you look at Korea, they had a marvellous World Cup but they had a very long preparation and that's the difference.

 

"As for the way we went out, I think the England team can still hold its head high. We lost 2-1 after leading 1-0 against the team who won the World Cup. I don't think you can complain about that."

Make no mistake about it though, Sven is far from satisfied by defeat. As a manager, his career has been founded on the hunger with which he strives for victory.

"It was a good lesson but in the future I think we should say to ourselves that we should do even better," was his final comment on the World Cup...and you just know he means it.

Sven was talking to Daniel Freedman