Tuesday, May 9 2006 14:21 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

London: Sven-Goran Eriksson has confirmed that he will make Theo Walcott the youngest England international in history after including the untried Arsenal forward in his World Cup squad.

Walcott, who has yet to make his first team debut for Arsenal, will head for Germany less than three months after his 17th birthday and Eriksson has admitted he is taking the 'biggest, boldest and bravest' gamble of his career as a high-level coach.

Astonishingly, it is one he has taken without ever having seen the former Southampton forward play in the flesh and on the basis of only the most fleeting contacts with him.

"If you take a 17-year-old boy to the World Cup of course you cannot be sure," Eriksson admitted. But the feeling is that he is ready for it. I don't think he will be nervous or feel the pressure," he said.

"We have spoken to a lot of people who have had him before. I think he can cope with it, handle it," he said.

Eriksson confirmed that he intends to give Walcott some playing time in England's warm-up friendlier against Hungary and Jamaica, which will allow him to claim Wayne Rooney's record as England's youngest ever international.

If he gets on the pitch in Germany, he will be the second youngest player in World Cup history, after Norman Whiteside, who played for Northern Ireland in Spain 1982, aged 17 years and 41 days.

Walcott, who will be 17 and 86 days when England play their opening match against Paraguay on June 10, cannot beat Whiteside's record but he can beat Pele, who played in Sweden in 1958 at 17 years and 236 days.

Eriksson opted for the gamble on Walcott after Rooney's participation in the World Cup was thrown into doubt by a broken foot. The references provided by Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger also helped sway the Swede, whose direct contact with the player has been limited to brief chats after Arsenal training sessions.

Eriksson saw enough in those workouts to be convinced Walcott could have a role as a high-impact substitute.

"He has pace, he can beat people. Having people like that on the bench could be very good," he said.

Walcott's inclusion was not the only surprise in Eriksson's 23-man squad with uncapped Tottenham winger Aaron Lennon, 19, and the left-sided Middlesbrough midfielder Stewart Downing also included.

Charlton striker Darren Bent, the leading English goalscorer in the Premiership, Tottenham duo Ledley King and Jermain Defoe and Chelsea's Shaun Wright-Phillips all missed out, although Defoe is on a list of five stand-by players.

Rooney was named in the squad as one of only four forwards, despite doubts about whether he will have recovered from his metatarsal injury in time to play any part in the tournament.

Eriksson's boldness in regard to Walcott is partly explained by the success he enjoyed after introducing Rooney to the England team at the same age.

"With Rooney, we all knew he would become a great player and let's hope Theo Walcott is the same. He is different from Wayne Rooney but we will see," he said.

Lennon had been included on the strength of his form for Tottenham over the last couple of months. "Every time we went to see him, we got good reports," Eriksson said.

"He has pace, he can beat people and he is a good crosser," he said.

On Rooney, Eriksson said the thought of leaving the Manchester United forward at home had never crossed his mind, although he already appears resigned to only having England's most inspirational player available for the latter stages of the tournament.

"If we were in the semi-final against Brazil, of course I would be calmer on the bench if Wayne Rooney was fit," he said.

"But there is nothing we can do but wait and see," he said.

Eriksson also faces an anxious wait to see if Michael Owen recovers fully from his own metatarsal problem, which has restricted him to one brief substitute appearance for Newcastle since the end of last year.

Owen played no part in his club's final game of the season, against Chelsea on Sunday, but Eriksson believes the striker is simply being prudent and expects him to be going flat-out at England's training camp in Portugal next week.