Walcott wishes he didn't go to World Cup as brutal Capello snub discussed
Theo Walcott has admitted he "should never have gone" to the 2006 World Cup after England boss Sven Goran Eriksson gave him a surprise call-up when he was just 17.
Eriksson admitted at the time that picking Walcott was a "big gamble", with the teenager yet to make his Premier League debut after leaving Southampton to join Arsenal in January. Walcott was an unused substitute during the tournament as England were eliminated on penalties by Portugal in the quarter-finals and he ended up never playing a single minute of World Cup football.
Reflecting on his call-up now that he has retired at the age of 34, Walcott said in an interview with former teammate Gary Neville on The Overlap in partnership with Sky Bet : "I should never have gone.
"I hadn't played in the Premier League at all but the manager must have seen something. I had always played above my age group so I was always someone they were keeping an eye on.
"I think I could have been more protected. I knew Sven was coming to watch training but I didn't think anything of it. Arsene said he was coming to watch me and then it happened and my whole life changed.
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"There was a lot of negative reaction. That is the one thing I would change because it affected everything. It exploded. My wife now, she was at university and we were being followed by paparazzi, we were kids and weren't protected.
"I wouldn't wish that on anyone. It was the WAG era and we were right in it and didn't know what to do. I was so out of place. People were following Mel, causing accidents in cars just to get a picture.
Fabio Capello brutally snubbed Walcott for the 2010 World Cup (FIFA via Getty Images)"I just had to get on with it and used football as a distraction but she didn't have that. I look back and think I don't wish that on anyone else. The World Cup I should have gone to in 2010 I didn't get called up."
Fabio Capello's decision not to pick Walcott for the 2010 World Cup also came as a big surprise, given he had just enjoyed his most prolific campaign to date for Arsenal. Even Lionel Messi weighed in on Walcott's omission, branding it a "bad decision" and calling him "one of the most dangerous players I have ever played against".
Capello later admitted he had "made a mistake not selecting him" and Walcott has now revealed the brutal way he was told he had not made the squad. "I was flying on the pitch but I missed a meeting, I misread the schedule and was s******* myself," he explained.
"I was worried and went to see Capello and he shrugged his shoulders and shut the door in my face. That was during the qualification stages and I remember the phone call and I wanted to ask why and what I hadn't done.
"He just said he wasn't taking me and then hung up. This is someone who is meant to be one of the best managers around." Walcott also missed the 2014 World Cup with an anterior cruciate ligament injury, before being left out of the Euro 2016 squad by Roy Hodgson and then having Gareth Southgate end his England career in 2017.
"He called me up on my birthday and he told me I wasn't playing enough and I came back with stats of how well I was doing and how much I was scoring," Walcott said. "I did a Capello on him and hung up! I look at what he has done with the team and it is brilliant."
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