Capello : I was wrong on Theo Walcott

 

FABIO CAPELLO last night admitted for the first time he cocked up by leaving Theo Walcott out of his World Cup squad.

Arsenal star Walcott was the surprise omission from Capello’s group which flopped so badly in South Africa, despite being a key member of the team which qualified for the tournament so easily.

 

Capello has confessed that was a major error because the flying winger could have made a huge impact, even as a late sub.

The England coach said: “Having decided not to pick him for the World Cup squad, I thought about him a lot afterwards. He could have played 25 minutes and been dangerous. I made a mistake not selecting him.

“He’s one of the players who can make the difference. I should have taken him.

“He’s one of the players who is so fast that he can make the difference in any moment.

“It was a really difficult choice. Aaron Lennon was playing very well. He was at the top at that moment. I chose Lennon and not Theo for this reason. Lennon was perfect. I saw him and one mistake, he’s one player who can play 20 minutes. This is one change I would have made for this World Cup.”

One of the reasons Capello decided against taking Walcott was that the Gunners star was not back to his best after missing a large chunk of the run-in to last season through injury.

He added: “A thing I am really happy about is that Theo is back. He is playing how I remember when he started to play with us.

“It was a tough decision leaving Theo out for the World Cup. He played only two games before the end of the season. He was not the same player, played every time with fear, in the tackle, he was not to win back the ball quickly.

“Also the movement when he turned, his movement was not fast like now.”