Walcott: If we don’t qualify for the World Cup there’ll be no excuse

CONFIDENT ... Theo Walcott

THEO WALCOTT has laid it on the line to England.

He admits there can be no excuses if the Three Lions fail to qualify for the World Cup.

Roy Hodgson’s men lie two points behind leaders Montenegro having played the same number of games with only one team automatically going to Brazil 2014.

Walcott believes that with three home matches from their final four qualifying fixtures, they can put the pressure on at Wembley and get the job done.

He said: “The fact is it shouldn’t be a struggle. We play in the most powerful league in the world, we have many of the best players in the world and are competing against the best every week.

“We believe we are the best in the group and we should be at the top. If we aren’t, we’ll be absolutely gutted, not just for ourselves but the fans as well.

“There will be no excuses if we don’t get to the finals, none at all.

“We’ve got a lot of games at home now which we need to win, you can’t be dropping points at home.”

It is all very well saying England should win their home games but they drew with Ukraine at Wembley and have beaten only minnows San Marino and Moldova.

England face friendlies with Ireland at Wembley next Wednesday and away in Brazil on June 2.

Previous manager Fabio Capello identified a crippling fear ingrained in the team about playing in front of their own supporters.

And Walcott, 24, added: “To be fair, this is a totally different squad now. It’s the best we’ve been playing at Wembley since I’ve been part of things.

“We played well in the friendlies against Spain, Brazil and even the Netherlands. The nerves have gone from some of the players.

“But I didn’t really agree with what Capello said about the weight of the shirt anyway.

“Yeah, there’s a lot of pressure playing for England but, in football, there’s pressure every day.

“It’s one of those things you’ve got to live with.”

Walcott remembers the pain of England missing out on Euro 2008 — even though he was not involved in that qualifying campaign — and does not want it repeated.

He said: “I wasn’t picked but I was still a fan and I know what it means to supporters if the England team fails.

“When you get to big tournaments you want the best countries to be there. You always feel England will be at every tournament.

“People automatically think, ‘That’s fine, England will get there, it’s nothing to worry about’. That should be the case. But, as you see in the Premier League, every game is difficult.

“We have to step up a gear, of course. Trust me, the guys really want it, they want to be in these tournaments. It’s just doing it on a consistent basis.”

Walcott has never kicked a ball in a World Cup finals. He went to Germany 2006 as a shock choice at the age of 17 but did not feature.

And the Arsenal flyer was not selected by Capello for South Africa 2010.

Walcott added: “These two friendlies we have coming up are important with a view to the qualifiers and we have another one against Scotland in August.

“Playing against Ireland will put us up for the fight.

“Although it’s a friendly the Irish won’t want to lose and we definitely won’t want to lose so that’ll be a good battle.

“When we faced Brazil at Wembley it probably wasn’t the real Brazil that we’ve loved for years.

“But over there it will be a different story. They like to impress their fans and show off so we’ll have to be careful.

“If we can get positive results it will set us up well.”