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Former England and West Ham striker Carlton Cole has shared a rather unusual experience from his playing days for the Three Lions. Cole, who had seven England caps, was tricked into taking Viagra after mistaking it for a vitamin supplement.
This took place during a training session while on duty with England, as the former Premier League striker explained on the Footballer's Guide to Football podcast (via TalkSPORT):
“The stonker was there. I wasn’t sexually aroused but it was just there. I was the quickest person around that pitch — I had three legs.”
The prank was apparently set up by Jermain Defoe, Wayne Rooney, and Shaun Wright-Phillips during the August international games in 2009. Speaking on the same podcast, Defoe explained how it had all come about:
"Carlton was always smiley, happy and that, so we just thought, if you are going to get anyone, who would take it? He just took it because he was thinking, ‘Oh yeah, vitamins, good for my body’. I was in stitches. It was the funniest thing. When we told him after . . . his face! And there’s nothing he could do. I thought, ‘You’re going to have to deal with this for a few hours, my friend’. Oh my God.”
Carlton Cole responded:
“I had erased that from my memory — you’re bringing back bad memories.”
Former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson struggling with pancreatic cancer
Former Three Lions manager Sven-Goran Eriksson has revealed that he is dealing with pancreatic cancer. He spoke in an interview with Sveriges Radio in Sweden (via Supersport), stating:
"Everyone understands that I have a disease that is not good. Everyone guesses that it's cancer, and it is. But I have to put up a fight as long as I can."
He went on to add a further assessment from his doctors, who revealed he had little time left:
"At best maybe a year (to live), at worst a little less. You have to trick your brain. I could think about it all the time, and sit home and mope, feel unlucky and so on. I think it's easy to end up like that. See the positive in things. Don't bury yourself due to adversity. This is the biggest adversity of course, but try to make something good out of it."
Eriksson notably led England to the World Cup quarterfinals in 2002 and 2006 as their first-ever foreign manager. This came after he made his name with clubs like Degerfors IF and IFK Goteborg. After his time with England, he managed other international teams like Mexico and Ivory Coast.
At the club level, he has managed major teams like Manchester City, Roma, Benfica and Lazio.
