England drop Walcott from squad
LONDON (AP) — England dropped Theo Walcott but kept injured Gareth Barry, while host South Africa left all-time top scorer Benni McCarthy out of its World Cup squad on deadline day yesterday.
Although many of the 32 qualifiers have already named their final squads ahead of FIFA’s deadline of 2200 GMT yesterday, defending champion Italy and three-time winner Germany were among those to leave it until late on the final day.
Four years after former coach Sven-Goran Eriksson took Walcott, age 17 at the time, to the World Cup in Germany but never used him, Fabio Capello decided not to take the Arsenal winger to South Africa.
Walcott has struggled with injury and form this season and, even with David Beckham out with a partially torn Achilles tendon, Capello preferred to summon Joe Cole and Shaun Wright-Phillips.
Barry has been sidelined since May 5 with ankle ligament damage and Capello gave him until a fitness check on Tuesday before deciding to take the Manchester City midfielder. Barry now has 10 more days to get fit for England’s first group game, against the United States.
The other six players to miss out on England selection were Darren Bent, Tom Huddlestone, Adam Johnson, Scott Parker, Michael Dawson and Leighton Baines.
South Africa was widely expected not to include McCarthy.
The 32-year-old striker, who has scored 32 goals in 78 games for South Africa, has struggled with fitness and form all season while playing in England for Blackburn then West Ham.
“It was a sad thing to have to split apart our family,” coach Carlos Alberto Parreira told a news conference as he announced the six players who will not play in the first World Cup to be staged in Africa.
“But I told them, ‘Put your heads up, life goes on. All of you deserve to be here’. Unfortunately we have to obey FIFA rules and we can only name 23.”
South Africa kicks off the competition against Mexico on June 11, and then faces former World Cup winners Uruguay and France in its group.
South Korea, Slovakia, Greece and Ivory Coast also named squads yesterday with no major surprises, although the Slovaks named two strikers who are recovering from injuries.
