Thursday, May 18, 2006
Owen Fit to Play in World Cup
Owen Fit To Play - Great News
Striker Michael Owen eased one of England's injury fears on Wednesday when the prolific striker pronounced himself fit for FIFA World Cup™ duty.
Owen has played only one competitive game for Newcastle United since breaking a bone in his foot on 31 December and had become an injury worry for the finals in Germany.
Asked if there were any doubts about being fit for England's first Group B game against Paraguay on 10 June, Owen told reporters: "Not at all. People have a whole summer off and then come in for pre-season training and do four or five weeks before their first match.
"I see it as probably that, only that I've got the added advantage that I've been on treadmills, bikes and everything else for the last three months. It's driven me crackers but it's kept me in good shape."
Owen, who is expected to feature in three England friendlies in the weeks ahead, said: "If there was a World Cup game tomorrow I would be in fit condition to play. I don't understand why people should be so concerned. I'm not."
As for regaining match fitness, he added: "It's not like 50 years ago when you needed to play ten games. You can do plenty of things in training, and there's these three games. It's not like as soon as I had my injury I've been sat there in my lounge watching TV for four months.
"Nowadays you have your operation and you are straight on the bike or the treadmill the next day, you are pushing and pushing and pushing."
With 35 goals in 75 appearances for England, Owen will be key to his team's hopes in Germany, particularly as strike partner Wayne Rooney is a real doubt, at least for the early stages, with a broken foot.
The 26-year-old will get valuable match practice with a B international against Belarus on 25 May and friendlies against Hungary on 30 May and Jamaica on 3 June.
Owen is confident he will not disappoint. "Even though the cameras haven't been on me for a couple of months now, behind the scenes on the Newcastle training ground I've been training, playing and doing everything that everyone else has been doing," he said.
Coach Sven-Goran Eriksson was also optimistic after seeing Owen work out at the squad's training camp in Portugal. "He looks very very sharp," Eriksson told a news conference. "Scoring yesterday, scoring today and he's hungry to play football - and that's very good."
Striker Michael Owen eased one of England's injury fears on Wednesday when the prolific striker pronounced himself fit for FIFA World Cup™ duty.
Owen has played only one competitive game for Newcastle United since breaking a bone in his foot on 31 December and had become an injury worry for the finals in Germany.
Asked if there were any doubts about being fit for England's first Group B game against Paraguay on 10 June, Owen told reporters: "Not at all. People have a whole summer off and then come in for pre-season training and do four or five weeks before their first match.
"I see it as probably that, only that I've got the added advantage that I've been on treadmills, bikes and everything else for the last three months. It's driven me crackers but it's kept me in good shape."
Owen, who is expected to feature in three England friendlies in the weeks ahead, said: "If there was a World Cup game tomorrow I would be in fit condition to play. I don't understand why people should be so concerned. I'm not."
As for regaining match fitness, he added: "It's not like 50 years ago when you needed to play ten games. You can do plenty of things in training, and there's these three games. It's not like as soon as I had my injury I've been sat there in my lounge watching TV for four months.
"Nowadays you have your operation and you are straight on the bike or the treadmill the next day, you are pushing and pushing and pushing."
With 35 goals in 75 appearances for England, Owen will be key to his team's hopes in Germany, particularly as strike partner Wayne Rooney is a real doubt, at least for the early stages, with a broken foot.
The 26-year-old will get valuable match practice with a B international against Belarus on 25 May and friendlies against Hungary on 30 May and Jamaica on 3 June.
Owen is confident he will not disappoint. "Even though the cameras haven't been on me for a couple of months now, behind the scenes on the Newcastle training ground I've been training, playing and doing everything that everyone else has been doing," he said.
Coach Sven-Goran Eriksson was also optimistic after seeing Owen work out at the squad's training camp in Portugal. "He looks very very sharp," Eriksson told a news conference. "Scoring yesterday, scoring today and he's hungry to play football - and that's very good."
