Cameroon have become the first nation to be knocked out of the World Cup. Boasting a strong squad made up of a lot of European-based players more was expected of Paul Le Guen’s side. After a 1-0 loss to Japan they lost 2-1 to Denmark yesterday to sit rock bottom of Group E. They will play merely for pride in their final group match against the Netherlands later this week.
The build up to this World Cup has been as much about who may not be there as to who will be there. Players have been ruling themselves out of matches or getting serious injury scares. It seems that a high proportion of these players, often influential players, are based in England and play in the Premier League.
Theo Walcott has been left out of the final England squad by Fabio Capello. I have previously hinted that this is something I would have considered from the very beginning. I would have never selected Walcott in my initial squad. I then suggested that actually Walcott’s selection against Mexico and Japan may not have been all it seems – see point four.
I am inherently biased. I should point out that I wouldn’t have selected Theo Walcott for the England provisional squad in the first place. However, he was selected, so I will try to provide an argument for and against his selection in the final squad.
