Just when Steve McClaren thought that he has the pieces at the right place in the jigsaw puzzle, out pops an indispensable piece. The return of the Kind Midas touch to Michael Owen has inspired England to defeat both Israel and Russia at the new Wembley stadium earlier this month and has rejuvenated hopes of Euro 2008 qualifications from Group E. The England coach must have banking on the 27-year old Newcastle United to carry his rediscovered scoring touch against Estonia and Russia next month but a shocking news have upset the applecart.
The former Liverpool and Real Madrid striker is out for at least three weeks with a 3 cm tear in his groin and there is a distinct possibility that the player could be out for two months should the specialist he is slated to see on Thursday determines that Owen needs to undergo a hernia opeartion too. That would not only imply that he would be ruled out against Engand’s Euro qualifiers against Estonia and Russia, but would force the striker to miss an awful lot of games for Sam Allardyce’s Newcastle team.
Since Owen’s move back to the English Premier League from Real Madrid in the summer of 2005, he has been struggling with injuries. He broke his knee playing against Sweden in the World Cup in Germany 2006 and missed virtually the entire of last season. This season, he did look like he was returning to his vintage form with a string of goals both for Newcastle and England but again the injury scares have resurfaced.
Owen limped out of Newcastle’s Premiership match against West Ham United at the weekend and was an early susbstitute against Derby in the prevous match. Owen’s injury woes have often made him suffer in terms of missing out on crucial games and this time too, he would have to watch from the sidelines as his England team mates battle to thread their way through the qualifying process.
McClaren knows that he has a tough task on his hand seeing England through to the Euro finals and with Owen scoring thrice in the last two matches for England against Israel and Russia, he must have been putting his faith in the Newcastlke striker. But the injury devil has reared its ugly head and McClaren is forced to dig deep into his resources. He would have Joe Cole suspended against Estonia and Emile Heskey out through injury but Wayne Rooney would be available. That should be a good sign but when you have the most experiened striker in your suqad out with injury, you are never quite sure how you would manage without him.
Image Source: Poster
Source: BBC
