The Final England World Cup Squad

By Oliver Sparrow, writing from London

Finally, after hours of journalistic and media speculation, the England World Cup squad was released. The eventual announcement was preceded by hundreds, nay, thousands of reports about players that had been seen here, there, and everywhere. Apparently, Theo Walcott was spotted at Heathrow airport early in the morning booking in to a Caribbean flight, which was reported on the BBC message boards and consequently spread itself around the ‘net faster than John Terry at a wives and girlfriends’ drinks reception. The whole process was a bit of an embarrassment to the English Football Association. They should have set a time for the announcement early in the morning in an attempt to quash media speculation. They should also have called all the players in the squad to a meeting to tell them all in person. This would have been fairer to all of the players, whether they were chosen or not. It would also stop all the phony reports before the announcement which do no-one any good.

The final squad included few surprises. The only really notable omission was Theo Walcott who might feel himself slightly unlucky to miss out on a place. Warnock also snuck in through the back door ahead of Leighton Baines. Here is the final squad and a short analysis of each of the seven players who missed out on a ticket to South Africa:

Goalkeepers: Joe Hart (Manchester City), David James (Portsmouth), Robert Green (West Ham).

Defenders: Jamie Carragher (Liverpool), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Ledley King (Tottenham), John Terry (Chelsea), Matthew Upson (West Ham), Stephen Warnock (Aston Villa).

Midfielders: Gareth Barry (Manchester City), Michael Carrick (Manchester United), Joe Cole (Chelsea), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Aaron Lennon (Tottenham), James Milner (Aston Villa), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Manchester City).

Forwards: Peter Crouch (Tottenham), Jermain Defoe (Tottenham), Emile Heskey (Aston Villa), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United).