text: LONDON --Steve McClaren wasted no time distancing himself from Sven-Goran Eriksson."I'm going to do it my way," McClaren said Tuesday when he officially became England's 11th national soccer coach.\n\nHe assumed control exactly a month after England was eliminated in the World Cup quarterfinals by Portugal, ending Eriksson's 5 1/2-year stay. McClaren's term also began almost 40 years to the day that England won its only World Cup.\n\n"It will be totally different from Sven and his five years," said McClaren, the former Middlesbrough manager who was groomed as Eriksson's assistant. "I'm looking forward to the big challenge."\n\nThe 45-year-old coach signed a four-year deal in May after Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari turned down the job.\n\n"It's a new chapter in the life of the England national team," said Brian Barwick, the Football Association's chief executive.\n\nMcClaren was hit with an early setback in one of soccer's most taxing jobs when former England captain Alan Shearer last week rejected an offer to work with the team, choosing to concentrate on his TV job.\n\nMcClaren still hopes to land former England coach Terry Venables, who left after leading the team to the semifinals of the 1996 European Championship.\n\n"I will look to make a few changes and freshen a few things up," McClaren said. "The aim is to try to bring the whole nation closer together, to bring the England team closer to the clubs and the fans."\n\nMcClaren was asked when he would appoint a captain to replace David Beckham, who stepped down after the World Cup. Chelsea's John Terry and Liverpool's Steven Gerrard are the leading contenders.\n\n"Individuals and smaller details we'll get to later on," McClaren said.\n\nMcClaren's first game is an Aug. 16 exhibition against Greece at Old Trafford. England hosts Andorra on Sept. 2 and travels to Macedonia four days later in the first qualifiers for the 2008 European Championship.\n\n"It won't be difficult for Steve to impose himself," Terry told The Times of London from Chelsea's preseason tour in the United States. "Every manager is different and Steve will be really different.\n\n"Sven was a little bit quiet and Steve will be in your face a bit more, which some of us like to see. We like to see that passion which he has in him and hopefully that will rub off on us."\n\nMcClaren was a midfielder at Hull City, Derby County, Bristol City and Oxford, where he turned to coaching youth and reserve teams. He became Alex Ferguson's assistant at Manchester United during the very successful years of 1999-01.\n\n"One thing that makes him a good coach is he's lucky," said Jim Smith, who recruited McClaren to coach Derby. "But he's a very talented coach and very good at man management. He knows what the best footballers are all about and gains their respect."