As World Cup squads go it is a brave one.

While the selections in goal, defence and midfield are not overly controversial, it is up front where Sven has shown some rather uncharacteristic bravado.

Picking Theo Walcott is a move that is either going to prove to be absolute genius or complete lunacy. There is no doubting the Arsenal kid is an awesome talent but he has not played a Premier League match for his team yet and that is scary when you consider this a tournament full of seasoned internationals.

The admission by Sven that he has picked Walcott despite never having seen him play makes you wonder whether the move was born out of sheer striker desperation.

It’s one thing taking a player you know is talented but quite another taking a player on the basis that others have told you he is.

What does worry me about the striking department is the lack of proper depth. Out of the four strikers Sven is taking, Rooney and Owen are injured, Walcott a top-level virgin and Crouch hardly prolific.

Surely he could have left one midfielder behind, maybe Hargreaves, and found an automatic place for Defoe? Or any other fully fit, proven goalscorer with international experience for that matter.

Time will tell whether Sven is a genius with an eye for the unexpected or a departing boss who doesn’t mind gambling as his job no longer depends on the outcome.

Meanwhile, how much must Shaun Wright Phillips be regretting his greed now? The little winger opted for a big money move to Chelsea and has spent the season on the bench instead of being a regular back at Manchester City.

And it has effectively cost him his place in the World Cup squad.

Let this be a warning to all those young players who put money before football. It may be nice to see your bank balance growing more rapidly. But it’s certainly not nice to have to sit back and watch your contemporaries taking part in the world’s biggest football tournament as a result of your greed.

Tottenham Hotspur

On the one hand you have got to feel sorry for Spurs. A season that promised so much fell to pieces on the last day and that has got to be upsetting for their fans.

But, on the other hand, the league table doesn’t lie. Arsenal may have only just secured the fourth Champions League place but, over the course of the season, they have probably been that little bit better than their London rivals.

There are those, of course, who will blame the food-poisoning suffered by several Spurs players on Saturday night for their failure to beat West Ham. And there is no doubting it may have been a factor.

But equally you can look back at the rest of the season and say maybe Arsenal would have won a game or two more without injuries they had at any particular time.

Ultimately that sort of thing balances itself out over the course of a nine-month period and, if you wanted, you could also argue that Arsenal have played a lot more games than a Spurs team that was knocked out of both domestic cups at the beginning.

Although I am neither a fan of Tottenham nor Arsenal, on a personal level I am happier that Arsene Wenger’s team went through. Firstly because I believe they will do better in Europe than Spurs and secondly because I think it may just be a deciding factor in keeping Henry in the English game.

And that, on his displays over the last few seasons, can only be of benefit to all the English youngsters he comes into contact with during his time at Arsenal.

Meanwhile, while the chances are Henry may not be lost to the Spanish game, it looks like another big name striker may well be.

Ruud van Nistelrooy will probably be on his bike now following a major fall out with Sir Alex at the weekend.

According to the stories coming out of Old Trafford, Ruud stormed out of the ground before kick off when he found out he wasn’t going to be playing despite the injury to Rooney.

Ferguson decided instead to go with young Italian Rossi as a partner for Saha and that seems to have been the final straw for the big Dutchman who has spent much of the second half of the season on the bench.

He left the ground in a huff and Fergie has now said he will be discussing the incident with the club’s directors.

At face value that may seem like a matter solved by a fine, a slap on the wrist and an apology from the player. And maybe at another club with another manager it would be.

But with Sir Alex it almost certainly means Ruud is on his bike.

Crossing swords with the fiery Scotsman is not well advised if you want to have a future at United.

When the boss gets it into his head that a player should go they almost inevitably go. Just ask Stam, Beckham, Veron and Keane.

And that leaves the door open for Barcelona to snatch him up as a sort of we-didn’t-get-Henry consolation prize.

Contact James on: [email protected]