World Cup call-up just like Theo

Dazzling Dowman could be shock

- BY ANDY DUNN

ALMOST 20 years ago, Sven Goran Eriksson made a World Cup selection so left-field that the player himself thought it was a practical joke.

Theo Walcott (inset) was actually taking the theory section of his driving test when his name appeared on Eriksson's list and refused to believe it when his dad told him the news.

To be fair, not many of us believed it.

Walcott had signed for Arsenal in January 2006, as a 16-year-old, but had not made an appearance for the club's senior side when Eriksson called him up.

Considering Eriksson left out an inform Jermain Defoe, it was a bizarre choice.

It was the type of selection unlikely to be repeated but watching Max Dowman tame a treacherous pitch and opposition in Mansfield, it was hard not to envisage him in a full England jersey.

Soon. Probably not as soon as World Cup 2026, obviously.