Former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson was sacked as head coach of Mexico on this day in 2009.
The Swede had replaced Hugo Sanchez 10 months earlier but lost his job after a damaging 3-1 loss to Honduras which put Mexico’s World Cup qualification hopes in jeopardy.
It was Mexico’s second defeat in three qualifying matches and left them fourth in their six-team group, with the prospect of facing a fifth-placed South American team in a play-off not an enticing one.
“We could not take risks with qualification for the World Cup. We cannot allow qualification to depend on winning all our home games,” said president Justino Compean.
“I would have liked to have been on the bench in South Africa but that’s football,” said Eriksson in his newly learned Spanish.
The Swede went on to become director of football at Notts County and management jobs with the Ivory Coast, Leicester, a couple of clubs in China and the Philippines national team followed.
