Eriksson wants the win against Argentina

June 6, 2002

SAPPORO, Japan, June 6 (AFP) -- England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson insisted Thursday his team would not settle for a draw against World Cup favourites Argentina when the teams meet in a crunch Group of Death clash here Friday.

England lock horns with their arch rivals in their second Group F match on Friday after being held to a disappointing 1-1 draw against Sweden last week. A defeat at the hands of the talented South Americans would leave Eriksson's men needing a win against the unpredictable Nigerians in their final first round match next Wednesday, but the England coach was adamant his team would not be adopting a negative approach.

"We are going to try to beat them, we know it's difficult because they are one of the best teams in the world, but it's not going to be easy for them too," said the 53-year-old Swede at Thursday's press conference.

Eriksson said Argentina would pose a far greater threat than the Swedes did last week.

"We are going to meet even more individual skills because they have extremely quick players who are all technically very good," he said.

"Up front they have extremely good players and they seem to be in very good shape at the moment."

Eriksson played down the hype which normally surrounds this potentially volatile fixture and said his team would not employ any dirty tricks to try and unsettle the Argentinians.

"I don't think we have to win at all costs, but it would be very nice to win the game tomorrow," he said.

The Swede, England's first foreign coach, said his strong relationship with some of the Argentina players who worked with him at Italian giants Lazio meant there would be few problems off the ball.

"I had many of those (Argentina) players at Lazio, I know them and they are professional football players just like we are. And there is always a referee out there and two linesmen.

"It will be a difficult game, it's a very important game of course, and we'll see what happens.

"But we need a good result if we still want to be playing at the World Cup after the 12th of June."

Eriksson was optimistic Beckham would play for longer than he did against Sweden having had more time to work on his fitness after breaking a bone in his foot seven weeks ago.

"Five days ago he played against Sweden and it was his first game for seven weeks," he said.

"So I guess he will be even better tomorrow and hopefully play for the full 90 minutes and do better than he did in the first-half against Sweden." The England coach was looking forward to playing under a closed roof at the futuristic Sapporo Dome and said it was the shape of things to come.

"I'ts strange because its indoor but I think it's beautiful," he said. "I think in future you will have more stadiums like this. "At least you can't complain (about weather conditions). There is no sun, no wind disturbing the players. "The temperature inside was a big surprise. It was not humid. It was the right temperature for playing football. Argentina will be looking for their second World Cup win after beating Nigeria 1-0 in their opening match.