Former England coach Terry Venables says Manchester City winger Shaun Wright-Phillips deserves his World Cup selection.

SWP's call-up has created controversy as Arsenal winger Theo Walcott missed out.

But Venables told The Sun: "In this column, I had Shaun Wright-Phillips in a list of seven England stars I felt should be axed from (Fabio) Capello's provisional 30-man World Cup squad.

"But after watching our fortunate 2-1 victory over Japan in Graz on Sunday, I realised I had got it wrong.

"What can I say? Even the greatest coaches get it wrong sometimes!

"Thankfully, Capello didn't as he named the Manchester City man in his final 23 - and rightly so.

"The Japan game confirmed to me if we are going to have a good tournament, then SWP has to be at the heart of our thinking on the right flank."