Owen Prepared To Be Patient For England

It is no surprise to learn that Michael Owen would dearly love to reclaim his place in the England national team. But the Manchester United striker is realistic, and accepts that after an injury-plagued and somewhat undistinguished stay on Tyneside with Newcastle United, he has a long way to go.

He is almost certain to be excluded from Fabio Capello’s 23-man squad for England’s friendly match against Holland on Wednesday, and while club manager Sir Alex Ferguson has urged Owen to rebuild his reputation at Old Trafford if he wants to be involved in next summer’s World Cup finals, Owen himself is hopeful, but philosophical.

In an interview published in Sport magazine, he said:

“I would love to get that place back in time, but at this moment playing well for Manchester United, scoring goals and earning my place in the team is the priority. If England comes as a result, fantastic.”

Capello did include Owen in an initial squad of more than 30 names after being impressed by his movement during United’s 2-0 friendly win over Valencia on Wednesday, but the striker will probably miss the cut when the Italian trims that squad down to 23 for the trip to Amsterdam.

Ferguson fully understands that Capello cannot pick players purely on reputation, and Owen has a big reputation, having scored 40 goals for England, which puts him fourth on the all-time scorers list for the nation.

However, Fergie believes the England coach would find it hard to ignore an in-form Owen who was scoring regularly for the Red Devils.

“England are not endowed with a bunch of top strikers,” Ferguson was quoted as saying in The Times. “The only consistent one has been [Wayne] Rooney.

“They’ve tried [Emile] Heskey and [Peter] Crouch and even included [Theo] Walcott in the World Cup squad at 17, which I still can’t understand. There is a dearth of really top strikers in the country.

“That gives Michael Owen a chance. He has operated really well for us so far. He has shown some really clever stuff and I’m really pleased with him.

“It’s only through what he does here that Fabio can really look at him. His name and reputation will not get him into the World Cup.

“It’s what he does with us that will, hopefully, get him into the England squad for South Africa. Fabio has to pick the best players and he’s not going to pick a player on his reputation from eight years ago.”