作为一个１８岁球员，欧文已经成为显赫的英格兰失利的一分子，在１９９８年世界杯阿根廷和英格兰比赛中，欧文打进了一粒非凡的进球。沃尔科特依然年仅１８，这支英格兰队却没有什么显赫之处，厌倦的人们正在期待着一个新的英雄诞生。
这次是沃尔科特的机遇吗？作者: jacksonkua 時間: 2007-11-18 03:32 PM 標題: Theo Walcott holds the key to England's future
Theo Walcott holds the key to England's future - 18 Nov 2007
England are reprieved, but have it within them to throw it all away for a second time. The ruthless Croats, unbeaten in the group, will prove formidable opponents at Wembley on Wednesday, the more so as England's first-choice strike force, Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen, are missing through injury.
Furthermore, Emile Heskey has still not recovered from a broken metatarsal, and Andrew Johnson has been recuperating from an ankle injury. That leaves England with Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe and Alan Smith.
Crouch and Defoe are not first choice for their respective clubs, while Smith is used by Newcastle in midfield and has not scored this season. How Croatia must be cowering.
Even the option of promoting Gabriel Agbonlahor, the top-scoring Englishman in the Premier League with five goals, looks problematic as he hurt a knee playing for the Under-21s on Friday night. So, who should Steve McClaren turn to? Enter Theo Walcott.
The Arsenal forward has come a long way since playing the role of Eriksson's Folly at the 2006 World Cup and is in the best form of his short career, with some star turns for Arsenal in the Champions League. He brutalised the Bulgaria Under-21 defence, repeatedly scooting past three or four defenders at a time. Crouch and Defoe will start on Wednesday, but if England need a goal with 20 minutes to go, they have no greater impact player at their disposal than Walcott.
"I have never been stronger," Walcott said, after receiving his man-of-the-match award on Friday night. "Just playing has been giving me more confidence. If I get more games, I'm sure I can improve further."
The man chiefly responsible for Walcott's development is Arsene Wenger, and the Arsenal manager has suggested that Walcott will be the long-term successor to Owen. Whether that succession is initiated at Wembley is down to McClaren, but there is no doubting that Walcott has never been better.
"He gets me excited, he gets me off my seat," said Stuart Pearce, the England Under-21 coach. "I see at this level, the more the season has gone on the more confidence he has gained. When I think back to August, and in some of the earlier games, I saw a bit of nervousness. He was snatching at shots, that sort of thing. When you have been around football, you can tell when a player is nervous.
"But he's just grown stronger and stronger. He strikes fear into the heart of opposing defences and I would have hated to have played against him. When you ask managers what they most want from attacking players you would have to say pace - and Theo has that in abundance. He's a defender's nightmare - you saw that for the penalty when he drifted past three or four as if they weren't there."
Pearce was referring to Walcott's late surge into the box - one of many - that forced the Bulgaria defence into fouling him. Walcott, adrenaline pumping, got up and put the ball on the spot and was furious when James Milner asserted his rightful authority as penalty-taker. Milner converted and England won 2-0.
The incident was intriguing, though. Thierry Henry would memorably avoid taking a penalty if he had won it, insisting he was not in the right frame of mind. As a boy, Walcott idolised the Frenchman, but these past weeks have seen him emerge from that imperious shadow. Walcott is, at the bidding of Wenger, becoming more aggressive.
"He wants me to show more aggression and I'm starting to do that," Walcott said. "It's not the type of aggression where I go around kicking players, but that I take players on more, use my strength and speed to go past them."
Walcott suffered through the second half of last season with a shoulder that kept popping out of its socket - a formidably painful injury - but over the summer he underwent surgery to fix the problem.
"The shoulder's fine now," he said. "It means I'm better at holding off players, as well as running past them. I've been working hard in the gym to build up that strength."
As an 18-year-old, Owen was part of a glorious England failure, scoring that remarkable goal as Glenn Hoddle's team were eliminated by Argentina from the 1998 World Cup. Walcott is still only 18, and while there is little glorious about this England side, a jaded support is in need of new heroes.作者: jacksonkua 時間: 2007-11-18 03:34 PM
在非常多的年轻英格兰球员当中，我相信WALCOTT和曼城的RICHARD是最出色的两位未来之星