Capello set to snub Owen again.
A number of British newspapers have reported that England boss Fabio Capello will snub Michael Owen again in his squad for the World Cup qualifier against Croatia. The Telegraph have reported he won’t even be keeping an eye on Owen when Manchester United face Arsenal and will instead be watching Manchester City take on Portsmouth to view Joleon Lescott and David James respectively.
After netting against Wigan it looked as if the tricky striker could be about to break back into the Italian managers plans. He had a terrific pre-season and after getting the vote of confidence from Sir Alex Ferguson by signing him in the first place it seemed like a decent bet that the former Real Madrid and Liverpool man would force his way back into the international set up.
This latest snub, if it does indeed happen, makes me question whether Owen has any chance at all of breaking into Capello’s team, regardless of how he plays. It appears that the England boss perhaps doesn’t even rate him that highly. Remember his remarks about Owen earlier in the year? As England were hit by a striker crisis ahead of the match with the Ukraine when asked about Owen Cappello stated: “I have to choose the players to play against Ukraine, not against history.”
Far be it from me to question a man like Capello who is clearly a very experienced coach but Owen has scored 40 goals in 89 appearances for England and always ups his game whenever called upon by the national side. I genuinely can’t believe that Capello will continue to ignore Owen if he continues to score on a regular basis for United.
The other strikers in ahead of Owen are by no means untouchable in terms of their position in the squad. Wayne Rooney appears to be an automatic choice and rightly so. In some ways this could be a benefit to Owen who will play alongside Rooney in the United attack and if he can prove they are an effective partnership together I see no reason why Capello would ignore this.
If you’re taking a 23 man squad generally five strikers will join the party and one place is taken by Rooney. The four other places will be contested by the likes of Emile Heskey, Carlton Cole, Jermaine Defoe and Peter Crouch, with Darren Bent perhaps also in with a shout. For me Heskey has never really delivered on the international stage and was at his best when he partnered Owen up front for the three lions. Cole could be the man to take his place and if I was picking the squad (after reading this you may be thinking ‘thank goodness he isn’t!’) I wouldn’t take Crouch, Cole and Heskey – they’re all too similar and two such players should suffice. The key problem for Owen could be Defoe. The Spurs man has enjoyed a terrific start to the season and some feel Owen and Defoe cannot play in the same team. This is something I disagree with personally, as far as I’m concerned you can never have too many strikers who will score goals.
In all fairness to Capello his reasons for not picking Owen from last season could still justifiably be valid. The season is just a few games old and Owen perhaps needs to get around 10 matches under his belt before the Italian considers him an option again. I’m fairly confident that if he has a decent season and scores over 10 goals he can force his way back into contention. The main worry could be the number of international fixtures before the tournament itself as the England boss will want to have tried and tested everyone before it kicks off in South Africa. However, I wouldn’t go betting on Owen missing out just yet - as long as he scores enough Premier League goals no manager can ignore such a proven striker.
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