Sven was at Bisham Abbey to give coaching tips to teachers from all over the country, as part of the Pepsi Thirst For Football campaign.

The group of 50 were selected from thousands of nominations made by parents and children who wanted to see their local teacher rewarded.

Top FA coach Dick Bate put them through their paces before Head Coach Eriksson held a question-and answer session and passed on his wealth of experience to an enthralled audience.

Sven then headed into a press conference - and immediately handed out some tips for Tottenham striker Defoe, too.

He revealed the Spurs star is a possible starter up front when England play Denmark in a friendly in Copenhagen next Wednesday, especially as Michael Owen will be suspended for the next match against Wales in a World Cup qualifier. And he challenged him to carry on improving.

He said: "My intention is to pick Michael Owen, even if he can't play against Wales. But almost for sure I won't start him, so that makes Defoe rather interesting. It's a good opportunity for him to show that he's the right man to start against Wales.

"Jermain has been improving a lot. I saw Tottenham against Porto last weekend and he played very well. He scored a fantastic goal and that's good.

"But of course, he's young and he can still improve more. He's a goalscorer, he's quick and he has marvellous technique. He could be a little bit more involved in games, perhaps.

"Sometimes you have the feeling that he's just waiting for the chance to score but he knows my opinion about that. I've told him many times. But he's young and we should be happy to have such players."

Owen, who scored a hat-trick in his last England game against Colombia, has been assured his England future is not in jeopardy, however, despite fears he may not play every game for Real Madrid next season.

Sven said: "I'm sure that he will play for Real, if he stays there, maybe not every game, but every second or third game. And he will come on as a substitute in many games, I'm sure of that.

"I want to qualify for the World Cup and then I want to have Michael Owen with me, that's for sure. He's always shown that he's very important for England."