Truro schoolboy to lead England footballers at Wembley (From Falmouth Packet)

Truro schoolboy to lead England footballers at Wembley

9:56am Tuesday 28th August 2012 in News

A schoolboy from Truro will meet his heroes when he leads the England football team out at Wembley next month.

Jacob Bendle, a seven-year-old pupil at Archbishop Benson, won the chance to be a McDonald's Player Escort for the game on Tuesday, September 11 through the food chain's KickStart programme.

England will once again be taking on Ukraine in the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification after beating them 1 - 0 in June at Euro 2012, thanks to a Wayne Rooney goal.

Jacob, who plays in midfield for Truro City Under 8's and supports Arsenal, hopes to meet his favourite player Theo Walcott.

Jacob said: “It was a surprise to find out I'd been picked. My friends think it's great and I'm looking forward to meeting Theo Walcott, Wayne Rooney and Steve Gerrard.”

Jacob was told he had been selected in a letter from England legend and 1966 World Cup winner Sir Geoff Hurst.

Mum Rebecca, who works for Truro independent financial advisors Worldwide Financial Planning, said: “We're all really excited about Jacob being selected to lead the England team out for such an important World Cup qualifier.

“I filled the entry form in for him a while ago and completely forgot about it so it was a real surprise when we got the letter through.

“We're all looking forward to going to the game as a family.”

Dad Gavin, who works for Coca Cola, said: “Hopefully this will be the first of many occasions that we get to see Jacob walking onto the pitch at Wembley in an England kit.”