You have to feel sorry for Theo Walcott. The young lad thought he had his place in England’s World Cup squad in the bag. For him to have his round of golf interrupted (Seriously footballers, why golf as a past-time? Can you not think up something more exciting?) by a phone call from Fabio Capello that was less of a phone conversation but more of a shock to the system. The axe had well and truly fallen on Walcott’s head – though not literally, because otherwise he wouldn’t have finished his round of golf – and in some fashion.
He wasn’t the only surprised individual. The decision to leave Theo out is baffling to most. I’m not of the opinion that he can start games and maintain a good performance over 90 minutes but as a substitute player – like he proved against Barcelona at the Emirates Stadium a few months back – he is beyond deadly. Lethal, even. What’s even more bizarre is the decision to put Shaun Wright-Phillips in his place. It feels almost like a vote of pity from Capello. Did Ian Wright whine enough on Live From Studio Five, a TV show so rancid that not even 100 clones of Adrian Chiles waddling around the set could make it worse than it currently is, to the point where Capello had to do the ‘easy’ thing to shut his gob? Who knows.
But odd choices aside, what are our chances? Well, we certainly won’t win, I’ll give you that. In general, this squad as a whole feels far too weak to battle against the other top teams. Even our first eleven has several flaws that can be exposed by about half of the teams in the competition. Those saying that the conditions will play to England’s favour (not as blindingly hot as past World Cups) means nothing. Most of these players couldn’t perform that brilliantly at home yet they’re still going to South Africa!
There are also doubts over some of the back-ups who are primed and ready to take the place of the starting eleven should anything happen to one particular player. Jamie Carragher is way beyond his best and doesn’t deserve to be coaxed out of international retirement. Michael Carrick has had a dreadful season at Manchester United and was hopeless against Mexico the other week. What’s more, Rio Ferdinand and John Terry, whilst both the best central defenders by a long way, have their own fitness niggles and consistency worries.
In summary to a rather defeatist and negative blog, by my own admission, I predict England’s hopes will crash and burn and possibly even quicker than pundits like John Motson suggest. He reckons England are capable of at least the semi-finals. I doubt that hugely.
