Sven Goran Eriksson has named his preliminary 23-man squad with 4 players on standby for this summer’s World Cup. Surprise package Theo Walcott is included!
England squad:

Goal Keepers
Paul Robinson (Tottenham), David James (Manchester City), Robert Green (Norwich);

Defenders
Gary Neville (Manchester United), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), John Terry (Chelsea), Ashley Cole (Arsenal), Sol Campbell (Arsenal), Jamie Carragher (Liverpool), Wayne Bridge (Chelsea);

Midfielders
David Beckham (Real Madrid), Michael Carrick (Tottenham), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Owen Hargreaves (Bayern Munich), Jermaine Jenas (Tottenham), Stewart Downing (Middlesbrough), Joe Cole (Chelsea), Aaron Lennon (Tottenham);

Strikers
Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Michael Owen (Newcastle), Peter Crouch (Liverpool), Theo Walcott (Arsenal).

Former Liverpool player and Predator football boot designer Craig Johnston this afternoon backed my view - Football Boots are to blame for Rooney’s injury.

Sky Sports News spoke to Johnston….
“Rooney’s metatarsal was broken because his studs engaged in the turf at Stamford Bridge and it didn’t release quickly enough so these injuries are a direct cause of the studs sticking when they should be releasing.”

Read the article here.

England fans will have been horrified at the news that Wayne Rooney may miss the World Cup 2006. Even if he makes a miraculous recovery, he is unlikely to be firing on all cylinders for England. Potentially Englands best ever footballer, Rooney will not be at his best for the World Cup 2006, if there at all.

Just last week I covered the news that Rooney would be wearing a new pair of football boots for the game. The week before I wrote about banning bladed football boots, for Englands sake.

Wayne Rooney wasn’t wearing bladed boots when he injured his metatarasal. His new Nike Total 90 Supremacy, were traditional screw in boots, Alex Ferguson won’t allow his players to wear bladed boots after Roy Keane broke a metatarsal.

Ferreira, who made the tackle on Rooney when he was injured, was wearing bladed boots, but after watching the replay its clear the blades of Ferreira’s football boots were not responsible for the injury to Rooney.

So is there any blame to be attributed to anyone, or anything? Yes.

Having watched the replay of the tackle on Rooney over and over (watch it here), I believe that the break to the metatarsal was caused by the shin of Ferreira’s trailing leg catching Rooneys football boot in the turf and twisting the foot.

When watching the replay, it is clear that immediately following his football boot becoming caught in the turf, you can see the top of Rooney’s football boot twisting. This is where the metatarsal is located and when the bone broke.

Ferreira’s right shin makes contact with the football boot of Wayne Rooney. The football boot twists Rooney’s foot, breaking the metatarsal and leaves Rooney and England with a slim chance of success at the World Cup 2006.

I believe that this injury is a result of Rooney wearing his new Nike Total 90 Supremacy football boots. I believe this football boot and other modern football boots do not provide enough protection. Specifically in the case of the injury to Rooney, the sole of the football boots is too flexible and did not give enough support to Rooney’s foot. The metatarsal injury was unheard of years ago, now with modern ligtweight foortball boots its responsible for 30% of long term injuries.

With the long list of International English footballers suffering from metatarsal breaks (Wayne Rooney, David Beckham, Gary Neville, Trevor Sinclair, Ashley Cole, Scott Parker, Michael Owen, Danny Murphy, Steven Gerrard), surely it needs some offical research into the matter. Not that it will help England and Rooney’s chances of making the World Cup 2006.