BRIEFS - Walcott axed

LONDON (AP):

Theo Walcott has been omitted from England's final 23-man World Cup squad. The Arsenal winger was one of seven players dropped yesterday by coach Fabio Capello. Capello preferred the more experienced Joe Cole and Shaun Wright-Phillips to Walcott, who was at the 2006 World Cup at age 17 but never played. Capello also cut Darren Bent, Tom Huddlestone, Adam Johnson, Scott Parker, Michael Dawson and Leighton Baines. Gareth Barry is included despite an ankle injury.

Emile Heskey will go despite starting fewer than half Aston Villa's Premier League matches this season. Wayne Rooney, Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe are the other strikers.

Benni too

LONDON (AP):

Host South Africa left all-time top scorer Benni McCarthy off their World Cup squad. McCarthy, who has scored 32 goals in 78 games for South Africa, has struggled with fitness and form all season and is one of six players left out.

Trophy trunk

PARIS (AP):

This time, the World Cup trophy will be travelling in style. French fashion and handbags house Louis Vuitton, with help from supermodel Naomi Campbell, has unveiled an elegant leather-bound case that it produced to carry the trophy to South Africa yesterday.

From the tournament's beginning in 1930, the World Cup trophy has always been transported in an armoured metal case - largely for reasons of security. But as Louis Vuitton spokesman Antoine Arnault put it: "There was no reason why security couldn't be synonymous with elegance."

The case features gold-colored clasps and the famed LV logo theme. Football governing body FIFA ordered it in March.