World Cup lesson: Never say die

BERLIN: England's Swedish coach Sven-Goran Eriksson may be scratching his head as to how he can end his quarter-final jinx at major tournaments when up against Portugal's coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, but there are plenty of precedents to give him heart.

Eriksson has seen his English side lose to Scolari's Brazil side in the 2002 World Cup and then to a Scolari-coached Portugal in Euro 2004 - but he does not have to search too far from perfidious Albion to take comfort.

The English cricket team - like their footballing counterparts coached by a foreigner in the form of Zimbabwean Duncan Fletcher - showed the way last year ending bitter rivals Australia's 18-year hold on the Ashes with a come from behind 2-1 series win.

"It was a hell of a lot of hard work but they believed in themselves and they expressed themselves out on the pitch," was England's inspirational captain Michael Vaughan's appraisal of why they had turned things around so dramatically.

While England's Ashes victory was exhilarating viewing, there are other losing runs that come to an end that provoke more disappointment than joy.

This was to happen to the great Moroccan athlete Hicham El Guerrouj - probably the greatest ever middle distance runner - when odds-on favourite to win the 2000 Olympics 1,500 metres title in Sydney.

Leading into the straight he looked destined to confirm four years of dominance with the ultimate title until the vastly-improved Kenyan Noah Ngeny produced a devastating final burst of speed to pass the Moroccan and breast the line in first place to record his first and last triumph over him.

There was no consoling El Guerrouj, who had fallen at the bell when just the young pretender at the 1996 Olympic final.

"Four years ago I fell in Atlanta and for four years I kept the photograph of that moment so I could bring it here and tear it up when I won the title," he said tearfully at the time.

"Now I will have to keep it for another four years but I will prevail because I am 'Hicham the Great' and still the best runner in the distance."

There are those, however, that no matter how long they are beaten by an opponent just never give up hope such as the late, top tennis star of the 1970s, Vitas Gerulaitis.

The American with the deep blue eyes and flowing blond hair at last bested Jimmy Connors in the elite Masters series year-ending tournament after 17 successive defeats to him.

Gerulaitis, for whom the word charisma seemed created for, fixed a journalist with a beady stare when asked how he had managed to at last beat Connors.

"Nobody but nobody beats Vitas Gerulaitis 18 times in a row," came the legendary reply.

Source: China Daily