Consistent Lagerback still searching for success

STOCKHOLM, May 24 (Reuters) Lars Lagerback has taken Sweden to four consecutive major finals but needs his team to produce their best showing at the World Cup if he is to go down in history as a great manager rather than a very good one.

Since starting out in a joint coaching role with Tommy Soderberg in 1999, the 57-year-old has achieved remarkable consistency but real success has eluded him so far.

After a miserable Euro 2000, where Sweden failed to survive the group stage, the pair guided the team to the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan without a loss in the qualifiers.

At the finals Sweden topped the so-called 'Group of Death', which included England, Nigeria and Argentina, only to exit in the second round after losing to Senegal on a golden goal.

The pattern repeated itself two years later at the European Championship in Portugal where Sweden once again headed a tough group, which included Italy, and then went out on penalties in the quarter-finals against the Netherlands.

Since then Soderberg has stepped down to coach the under-21s and Lagerback has shown he can manage alone, reaching the finals in Germany as one of the two best European group runners-up.

Lagerback is widely tipped to take his team past the group stage, where Sweden have been drawn with England, Paraguay and Trinidad&Tobago, and the FA recently showed their faith in him by extending his contract until after Euro 2008.

Often described as a tactician rather than a man-to-man motivator, Lagerback came through the ranks of the Swedish FA, coaching the national boys' and youth teams during 1990-1995.

He went on to briefly coach the national B-side before Soderberg hand-picked him after taking over from Tommy Svensson, who quit when he failed to get Sweden through to the Euro 96 finals in England and the 1998 World Cup in France.

Svensson had led Sweden to third place at the 1994 World Cup in the United States and while Lagerback will aim to match that record he will surely be satisfied if they reach the last eight.

REUTERS PM VA RAI1024