Keegan faces up to reality test

Kevin Keegan appears to have woken up to the fact that the England job is a bed of nails. At all events, yesterday's draw for the 2002 World Cup qualifiers has handed him a German-made hammer with an open invitation to hit his thumb, always assuming he is still in the tool shed.

No sooner had the England coach begun to paint himself into a corner, by declaring that should his team flop in next summer's European Championship he might not be around to lead them towards the rising sun two years later than events in Tokyo offered him artistic assistance after the macabre style of Hieronymus Bosch.

To qualify for the 2002 tournament by the most direct route England will have to win a group which includes Germany, their nemesis in Italia 90 and Euro 96, Greece, Finland and Albania. This does not seem quite so daunting a task as the one faced by Glenn Hoddle last time, when England not only had to finish ahead of Italy but encountered potentially awkward opposition in Georgia and Poland.

Their circumstances have changed, however. Three years ago Hoddle took over a squad whose confidence had been renewed by some upbeat performances under Terry Venables in the European Championship and enjoying public sympathy after losing to the Germans on penalties in the semi-finals.

Now there are widespread misgivings about the true worth of the England team after the 1-0 defeat by Scotland at Wembley in the return leg of the Euro 2000 play-offs. Keegan, so ebullient after the 2-0 victory at Hampden Park four days earlier, was as downcast as anybody and is now considering his future as England coach.

This is clearly a result of the media mauling he received when it became known that, after the win over the Scots, he had stayed up until the early hours to watch the Lennox Lewis fight with several of the England players.

Next Sunday's draw for the European Championship now takes on added significance. But whatever happens in Brussels, Keegan's assertion that "if it doesn't go too well at Euro 2000 it might not be me as coach in 2002" has guaranteed that the coming six months will see another bout of speculation concerning his successor. Before long the Football Association may well regret that it did not make a more strenuous effort to save Hoddle from himself.

Amid the rush to condemn Hoddle, England's impressive qualification for the 1998 World Cup was largely overlooked. Keegan's latest outburst confirms the suspicions of those who doubted that his volatile temperament was suitable for the job. Even if he survives Euro 2000 his tactical qualifications will be tested to their modest limits starting next September.