Manchester United's Gary Neville was unsurprised at missing out on England's 30-man preliminary World Cup squad. The veteran defender had an outside chance of winning a place in Fabio Capello's team with a number of fitness worries over key personnel.

Neville is not too disappointed to miss out, although he was surprised that Capello did not include United's ever-reliable team-mate Wes Brown.

"I wouldn't say I'm overly disappointed not to be named in Fabio Capello's initial 30-man England World Cup squad, because although I did think there was maybe a chance I could get in, I was under no illusions how tough it would be after not being named in the squad for a year," he told the Times of Malta.

"I'm slightly surprised in some ways that there is only one right-back in the entire squad, but I'm probably more surprised Wes Brown isn't in the 30, to be honest.

"Capello spoke to Paul Scholes to try and bring him back into the England squad, but Scholes retired a good few years ago from international football and he's not the type to go back on that.

"I'm not surprised Capello tried to get him out of retirement because if there is one player I would try and pull out of retirement it is Scholes.

"Capello maybe got a bit desperate at the last minute and wanted Scholes because he is still probably the best midfielder in England, but Scholes decided to stick to his guns."

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