AS far as former Swindon Town footballers go, Alan McLoughlin is amongst those best place to offer an analysis on this year’s World Cup.

The former Republic of Ireland international went to both Italia ‘90 and USA ‘94, and believes Fabio Capello’s England are well set to go far in this year’s tournament, which kicks off in South Africa next week, so long as they utilise the talents of Wayne Rooney.

“When you’re asked how far England can go in the tournament it’s like asking, ‘ how long is a piece of string?’” he said.

“It does depend on how effectively they can use Rooney, and if they do how well the players around him perform.”

McLoughlin was unsurprised by the omission of Arsenal’s Theo Walcott in the Italian’s final 23-man squad which flew out to their Rustenberg base on Wednesday, saying the 21-year-old, for all his electric pace, lacked the end product to justify selection for a tournament which demands consistency.

“We’ve all seen what he is capable of, but he gets into great positions and then doesn’t put the crosses in that he needs to,” said the man whose strike put Town on their way to short-lived promotion joy in 1990.

“He can beat a full-back but doesn’t get the ball to his man on a regular basis.

“In a World Cup you can be playing six or seven matches in a short space of time and you need consistency and efficiency.

“Capello has not only had the two warm-up games to think about it, he’s also seen 10 days of training as well from which the decision has been made.”

Looking through the squad, McLoughlin believes Capello has opted for experience ahead of youth, with Manchester City winger Adam Johnson and Spurs centre-back Michael Dawson both missing out in favour of Sean Wright-Phillips and Jamie Carragher.

And in such a demanding scenario as a World Cup, the Irishman agrees with the Italian.

“It is all about how you can cope with some of the pressure in the situations that could come about,” he said.

“Someone like Johnson has been in terrific form at City, but he does not have the experience in the big matches that someone like Michael Carrick does.”

McLoughlin harbours fond memories of his two trips to what is widely regarded as the greatest sporting spectacle on the planet, and says England’s players must make the most of their opportunity to be a part of it.

“It was fantastic to be involved in one and magical to be involved in two,” he said. “The anticipation surrounding it was amazing and it is a unique moment in a career. They have to enjoy it all.”