Curate's Egg at the Cafe Royal

Naturally, the majority of players in Sven Goran Eriksson’s 2006 England World Cup Squad were quite predictable. Everyone expected Robinson and James to be two of the goalkeepers and the inclusion of Norwich City’s Robert Green as the third is unlikely to raise many eyebrows. Similarly, there’s nothing earth shattering about hearing the names of Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, Ashley Cole, Sol Campbell, Jamie Carragher and Wayne Bridge as the defenders – or Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard, Joe Cole, Jenas and Carrick in midfield. And as for the strikers, the inclusion of injury doubts Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen to accompany Liverpool’s Peter Crouch represented a gamble that will surprise no-one.

But on the face of it, the biggest gamble of all is the naming of Arsenal’s 17 year old starlet Theo Walcott before he has even played a first team game for the Gunners. It will provoke an enormous outcry, but it shouldn’t. Walcott comes with the ringing endorsement of Arsene Wenger, the manager England wished they had, and that should be sufficient. Credit to Sven for listening.

Almost as brave is the inclusion of Spurs winger Aaron Lennon, but this too is wise because some of his recent performances have been electrifying and as an unknown quantity internationally, he could come on and turn a game.

As for the final two in Sven’s 23, the form of Middlesbrough’s Stewart Downing is less impressive and the selection of Bayern Munich midfielder Owen Hargreaves totally perplexing.

That leaves the standby list of Scott Carson, Luke Young, Nigel Reo-Coker, Jermain Defoe and Andy Johnson – and a mountain of speculation as to why players like Darren Bent, Wes Brown, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Phil Neville can’t even make it to the reserves.

Not to mention the fact that if both Rooney and Owen don’t recover in time, England might look a bit thin up front – especially with Crouch playing.