Brown: England spirit will not suffer

Former Scotland boss Craig Brown believes England’s World Cup chances will not suffer as a result of the current row involving Sven-Goran Eriksson.

Eriksson was caught on tape making indiscreet comments about several high-profile members of his squad.

Brown, however, feels England’s players will remain committed to their country rather than be sidetracked by the Eriksson saga.

“Players are resilient guys and tomorrow, quite frankly, I suspect it’ll all be forgotten. After all, they’re not playing for Sven, they are playing for England,” Brown told BBC Sport.

“So to say it could affect their performance, that’s an indictment of the players.

“If it affects their performance, I think there’s something far wrong because they should be putting that white jersey on and playing for their country and not for an individual person.”