5 times the England manager shocked the fans with his World Cup squad selection

#4: Sven selects Theo Walcott as a wild card – World Cup 2006

Sven-Goran Eriksson's decision to take a teenage Theo Walcott to the 2006 World Cup was a jaw-dropper

It remains one of the most bizarre selections in England World Cup history. Going into the 2006 tournament, the starting eleven that England would likely be playing seemed to be carved in stone, and the strikers were always likely to be Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney, with Peter Crouch as the backup man should one of the two be unavailable.

As it turned out, both Owen and Rooney were going into the tournament with question marks surrounding their fitness.

That seemed to open a window of opportunity for another English striker, and the most likely names appeared to be Jermain Defoe and Darren Bent, who’d finished the 2005/06 season as the highest scoring Englishman.

Instead, though, boss Sven-Goran Eriksson left both Bent and Defoe at home and selected Arsenal teenager Theo Walcott instead.

Jaws hit the floor all over the country when the selection was announced, as not only was Walcott only 17 years old, but he’d only played 13 senior games and had never kicked a ball for Arsenal since his move there.

Eriksson claimed that the selection would help Walcott to gain valuable experience, but picking such an unknown quantity as one of just two fully fit strikers simply seemed like folly.

As it turned out, Sven didn’t end up using the teenager anyway, even when England desperately needed a goal in their quarter-final match with Portugal.

Quite what the Swede was thinking with this selection remains a mystery, and despite going on to moderate success with England, Walcott has still never appeared at a World Cup for the Three Lions.