The prospect of Sven-Göran Eriksson returning to work in England increased last night after he lost his job as the coach of Mexico.

The former England head coach, who was linked with Portsmouth when the Barclays Premier League club dismissed Tony Adams in February, is likely to interest any top-flight clubs looking for a new manager in the summer.

Eriksson signed a lucrative contract to replace Hugo Sánchez last June but results with Mexico have been disappointing and he was dismissed after a 3-1 defeat away to Honduras on Wednesday that left his team in fourth place out of six in the final group stage of World Cup qualifying. The risk of not appearing in the finals was too much to take for Eriksson’s employers and they acted after carrying out a 24-hour investigation into the state of the national team.

“A lot of people are disappointed,” Justino Compeán, the president of the Mexican football federation, said. “We told Mr Eriksson that his term with the national team was finished.”

Eriksson said that he regretted not having longer to prove his credentials. “I enjoyed the work, the country, everything,” he said. “Sooner or later patience runs out. It’s a shame because I always thought I would be in the dugout for the World Cup as Mexico are going to qualify. We did not play well away from home and this is my responsibility.”

The Swede’s reign began with a comical case of mistaken identity. He became a figure of fun when an Eriksson impersonator toured Mexico City pursued by television crews in July but no one was laughing when his team lost to Jamaica and Honduras.

His stock fell farther when it was reported in February that representatives from Portsmouth had arrived in the country to negotiate his release from his contract. The links were denied by Eriksson who insisted that he would stay and guide Mexico to the World Cup finals in South Africa. Javier Aguirre, the former Atlético Madrid coach, is favourite to replace him.

It is believed that the Mexican federation will have to pay Eriksson about £2 million after dismissing him, the Swede’s third seven-figure payoff in three years. He is said to have received compensation of about

£3 million from the FA after standing down as England head coach in 2006 and another £1 million when he parted company with Manchester City.