Walcott Unfazed By World Cup Call

Teenage striker Theo Walcott is confident he can cope with the pressure of playing at a World Cup after being named in England's squad.

Walcott, 17, has not played a competitive game since joining Arsenal from Southampton in January 2006.

But the striker said: "At Southampton I was 15 going on 16 (when he played in the first team) and dealt with a lot of pressure. I'm a bit more mature now, so I think I'll find it easy to cope really."

He added: "I've improved by training with world-class players and have been doing really well lately. I feel fresh - I haven't played for a while. I just want to get a couple of games under my belt now. When I moved here (to Arsenal) I was very nervous - my hero was here, Thierry Henry - but now I've settled in fine."

Walcott was an unused substitute when Arsenal won 1-0 away at Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-final first leg and says it was a valuable experience for him.

"I did go to the Bernebeu and was itching to get on and there were 80,000 there - you can't get bigger than that really," he said. "I've also played in front of big crowds for Southampton's first team."

Walcott was the surprise name in Sven-Goran Eriksson's 23-man England squad.

And the striker says he was as shocked as anyone by his inclusion.

"I woke up this morning (Tuesday) still shocked. You should have seen me yesterday though, I was so surprised and shocked. I would have thought maybe I would be on the standby list, but not in the squad. I've only been playing football for about six, seven years now, and didn't think I would come this far. Watching the 2002 World Cup, I didn't think I'd be here now."