England captain Harry Kane and interim boss Lee Carsley are hoping to pay a fitting tribute to Sven-Goran Eriksson when Wembley remembers the former manager on Tuesday night.
The Nations League game against Finland is the first England home match since the Swede died aged 76 on August 26th after suffering from pancreatic cancer.
England players wore black armbands in Saturday’s 2-0 win away to the Republic of Ireland and will do so again at Wembley.
There will be a period of applause ahead of kick-off on a night when the deaths of Craig Shakespeare, Kevin Campbell and Tommy Banks will also be acknowledged.
On Eriksson, who managed England between 2001 and 2006, Kane said: “I think one of our, I’d say, most famous, most popular managers we’ve had as a national team.
“It will be a sad night for a lot of England fans and a lot of England players. There’ll be a good tribute to him that he fully deserves.
“From what I understand, I didn’t get to meet him personally, just a great person, really, really loyal to his players and his job. I think he’ll go down as one of England’s best managers.
“From our point of view, we just wish all his family and friends our condolences, and we hope we can pay a good tribute tomorrow night.”
Carsley echoed his skipper’s sentiments having heard a lot about Eriksson from his assistant Ashley Cole.
“I was never lucky enough to meet him,” he said. “I played against his teams a few times.
“Speaking to Ashley, who played under him, what he speaks mostly about is what a great person he was.
“Obviously he was a highly decorated coach as well, and the period he had with England, with the generation of players that he worked with, everyone speaks about the atmosphere and how much they enjoyed playing for him.
“Like Harry says, hopefully we can pay a nice tribute to him, and he’ll be remembered fondly by everyone, I’m sure.”
Finland boss Markku Kanerva also made a point of ending his press conference at Wembley by paying tribute to Eriksson.
“In a football game you can win or lose the game, but in life there can be big defeats,” he said.
“Sven-Goran Eriksson passed away and we will respect his memory tomorrow. A great coach.”
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
