Theo Walcott – The English Freddy Adu?

May 8th, 2006 | by: Daryl |

Big shock today is that England’s normally conservative coach Sven Goran Eriksson has gone where Bruce Arena feared to tread and named teenage prodigy Theo Walcott to his World Cup roster.

Walcott plays on the left flank or as a withdrawn forward, but is yet to play a single second of Premiership football since joining Arsenal for an initial 5 million GBP in January. Eriksson is basing the selection on video footage of Walcott playing for Southampton, and what he’s seen while watching Walcott train with the Arsenal first team over the last month or so.

So the question on some American lips will be: if one of the World Cup favourites can gamble on raw talent, why can’t we? Freddy Adu has been on the field, and been impressive for almost all of DC United’s MLS season so far. With our shallow talent pool after McBride, why wasn’t Adu considered?

The answer, as far as I can see is once again tactical. England have plenty of hardworking players, but what they lacked after Rooney’s metatarsal injury was a creative spark. Eriksson has taken a gamble on the only thing available to him. Arena on the other hand, has a definite game plan, which will require every player to share defensive responibilities and maintain a high pressure ‘hustling’ defence. There’s just no room for Adu in this strategy.

Adu’s exclusion may be a shame from a headline grabbing perspective, but given the uphill battle that is World Cup Group E it’s comforting to know that Bruce has a game plan, while England fans are left wondering exactly what Sven has in mind.

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Bob

Interesting comparision. You could say that Sven has nothing to lose since he is going to be the scapegoat anyway, but is there a coach in the world with better job security than Bruce Arena? He could have selected Adu and faced no media scrutiny. I give Arena credit for not bowing into commercial pressure and selecting the players who he thinks best fit into his game plan.
Owen

Sad to say, I think that despite Arena being one of the top managers in the game, and despite him having a great plan, the US has less chance of getting out of its group than England does despite all England’s injuries.

The US team is not a huge step better than last time. They are a much more known quantity than before to the rest of the world. They are in a tough group. Ghana (and Ivory Coast) are much better than you would think. It is quite possible that Italy and the US will go out from this group.

Having said all that I’m sure the US will be tough for the others to beat. I fully expect this to be a really rough group as well as tough.

Finally, back to the subject – Sven has little choice left – he has to reshape his team and bring players who can make a change in a game. For all the criticism of Crouch, he really pulls defenders his way. I think if he was 100% sure of Owen then Walcott wouldn’t be coming.

I do think Adu should have gone – just for the experience so he can be that much better in 4 years.
armin

a player who has NEVER played in england’s glorious national team is picked to go to germany?

waste of room for a better player
jjburch

I agree with Armin. And that better player is Jemaine Defoe.

As for Adu, I’m glad Arena left him off. He’s good on the ball, but too inexperienced. And let’s be honest: MLS experience is about the same as lower-division Scottish experience. This, in addition to his youth, is the determiner for leaving him at home, IMO.

As much as I would like to see the MLS become a better league, it will remain substandard as long as its best and brightest go abroad in their prime.
Genesis Guanga

I have to say these conversations have been very interesting, and I’d like to throw in my two cents.

1) As much as I love Jermain Defoe, Darren Bent should go over him as the next forward because he is a goal producing machine and consistent while he’s at it.

2) Arena made the right choice in leaving Adu out. Experience and Composure. Enough said. I’d also like to raise the question as to who would be the most outstanding US player (or will have a breakout summer) this summer? My money is on Clint Dempsey. If he plays as well as he has in international friendlies he might just draw some attention from european clubs.
Steve A

jjburch,

I would also like to see the MLS become a better league. However, there are very few countries where the best and the brightest don’t go abroad in their prime. Argentina, Brazil – their best players are all playing abroad. The only countries that manage to keep them are Germany, Italy, England, and Mexico. The key is to replace them without a significant drop-off in talent. This is where the MLS is lacking. If the league can hold on for another few years, as it appears it will, this could change. We’ll keep our fingers crossed.
jjburch

Good point, Steve.
Chuck

I believe Italy’s entire roster is made up of players that play in the Italian domestic league.

Incredible.
Wes

The difference, I think, as is often the case, is money.

It’s okay for many of our major talents to go abroad as long as we get star players from other countries coming to MLS in return.

That’s how it is in England, Italy, Spain, France, Germany.

The reason it doesn’t happen here is because MLS can’t afford to compete with the salaries offered in Europe, mainly because the still relatively small fan base here doesn’t allow it.

As the game continues to grow in popularity in the US, all of that WILL change.