England striker Theo Walcott will miss the friendly against Germany on Wednesday after dislocating his shoulder in a fall in training. The right shoulder was put back in place at a hospital, and he returned to the team hotel late Tuesday. The medical staff will decide on Wednesday when Walcott can fly home, England manager Fabio Capello said. “We're all very disappointed, but the most important thing is for Theo to travel home and make a quick recovery,” Capello said. Even before this latest setback the withdrawals of many stars had left England and Germany with a chance of using their friendly to test new players ahead of key qualifying matches for the 2010 World Cup. A long list of injuries on both sides may have also taken some edge out of next chapter in the long, rich rivalry between the teams when they meet on Wednesday at Berlin's Olympic Stadium. “It's not a meaningless friendly,” Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick said. “Germany vs. England at any level is a huge game.” Germany has never beaten England in seven matches in Berlin (three draws), but five of those games were before World War II - and three before World War I. The last match in Berlin was in 1972, a 0-0 draw. Reminded on Tuesday of the 5-1 loss to England in 2001 in Munich in Cup qualifying, Germany manager Oliver Bierhoff replied laughingly: “I can remember some other games, some penalty shootouts, too” - referring to the famous German wins in the 1990 World Cup semifinals and the 1996 European Championship semifinals. Germany coach Joachim Loew believes he'll still run into a strong England even without Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney, Emile Heskey, Rio Ferdinand, Ashley Cole, Joe Cole, Owen Hargreaves and, as of late Tuesday, Walcott. Captain John Terry has passed a fitness test. “England has made a lot of progress, they have taken big steps forward. England has one of the strongest teams in years,” Loew said Monday. “They learned their lesson from failing to qualify for the European Championship and now they have some Italian qualities (in coach Fabio Capello).” Capello has also chosen to leave out striker Michael Owen because of a lack of fitness and form and David Beckham because he has been inactive since the Los Angeles Galaxy's failure to reach the MLS playoffs. Loew will be without captain Michael Ballack and his midfield colleague Torsten Frings, who had a public row with Loew last month before apologizing in separate private meetings with the coach. Also missing through injuries are Philipp Lahm, Clemens Fritz, Marcell Jansen and Christian Pander, all defensive players.
