England 23-Man Squad: Theo Walcott Latest Victim Of Relentless, World Cup News Cycle

Amidst all the speculation over Theo Walcott’s fate with the England national team (here, there, and everywhere) comes one small little detail: England had confirmed nothing. With every British media outlet trying to keep from being the last boy on in the wagon, the FA had to announce when they were going to announce, lest the story be written without them.

It’s not surprising that every agency has their man in the FA office, and that man’s mobile started blowing-up when the Tuesday sun rose on the River Thames. The Mail may have gotten their anonymous single source and ran with it. Perhaps ,at that point, slightly more credible sources decided they couldn’t miss out, and the news appeared in the Mirror and Sky Sports. After long, the Guardian is printing it.

Walcott is probably not going to be in the team, and some of the sources who’ve gone with the story are probably getting their information via reliable, verifiable means, but with the English FA confirming nothing to date and the announcement scheduled to be made a mere five hours after the initial reports started to leak, would it hurt so much to wait for official word?

The answer to that may be yes. The English public is insatiable when it comes to their football, and hit are money (at least, in this economy). But they’re insatiable in the same way that an obese child can’t resist another Snickers bar. When the child has no expectation of getting the another chocolate bar, an apple or banana starts to look pretty good.

Stop dangling Snickers bars, because the apple will be unveiled at 4 p.m. London time. And who knows - Theo Walcott may be going to South Africa.