England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson has included teenage striker Theo Walcott in his provisional 23-man World Cup squad alongside Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney and Aaron Lennon - but there are no places for Ledley King, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Jermaine Defoe or Darren Bent.
Walcott, 17, has not played first-team football since his £12million move from Southampton to Arsenal in January but is regarded as one of the hottest talents in the game and Eriksson has decided to include him in his squad.
Manchester United forward Rooney's broken metatarsal is expected to rule him out of the start of the tournament but Eriksson decided to gamble on his talisman's fitness as expected.
Owen's prolonged recovery from a similar injury has severely limited his match practice and he will head to the finals having played only 31 minutes for his club since December 31.
Provisional England squad for the World Cup finals in Germany:
Robinson (Tottenham Hotspur), James (Manchester City), Green (Norwich City), G Neville (Manchester United), R Ferdinand (Manchester United), Terry (Chelsea), A Cole (Arsenal), Campbell (Arsenal), Carragher (Liverpool), Bridge (Chelsea), Beckham (Real Madrid), Carrick (Tottenham Hotspur), Lampard (Chelsea), Gerrard (Liverpool), Hargreaves (Bayern Munich), Jenas (Totenham Hotspur), Downing (Middlesbrough), J Cole (Chelsea), Lennon (Tottenham Hotspur), Rooney (Manchester United), Owen (Newcastle United), Crouch (Liverpool), Walcott (Arsenal).
Eriksson has named five standby players for his England World Cup squad: Scott Carson, Luke Young, Nigel Reo-Coker, Jermain Defoe and Andy Johnson.
