Owen eyes England return

• turbo_drift

  1 May 07, 18:55

  Michael Owen has revealed he would 'jump at the chance' of featuring for England this summer, after making his comeback for Newcastle on Monday.
  
  The striker came through a full 90 minutes on his first outing since suffering a serious knee injury on England duty at last summer's World Cup.
  
  Owen claims he has worked extremely hard on his fitness and after coming through the 1-0 defeat to Reading unscathed, focus has shifted to England's friendly with Brazil on 1st June.
  
  "I'm hopefully going to be fine to be playing in the last two games for Newcastle and then it's down to whether Steve McClaren picks me," Owen told the website.
  
  "And if I'm fit and playing for Newcastle, obviously I'd jump at the chance to play for my country. Its a fantastic honour."
  
  The 27-year-old claims he is starting his career again and insists he feels far stronger than before he suffered cruciate knee ligament damage against Sweden.
  
  "When you have an injury like this you get to start again, you get a clean sheet of paper," he added. "We've built up everything, I weigh a stone heavier now than when I got injured and none of it is fat I can assure you.
  
  "Now you get to start over again. I feel a massive difference from when I last played, I feel as though I can use my body and be strong and win a lot of headers.
  
  "I felt a different type of player. I felt really well."
• SumOne

  4 May 07, 03:31

  Owen to return for England B?
  
  
  
  Michael Owen could make his long-awaited return to the England scene in the unfamiliar surroundings of Turf Moor later this month.
  
  The Football Association have confirmed England B will tackle Albania in Burnley on Friday, May 25 as part of Steve McClaren's build-up to the key Euro 2008 qualifier with Estonia on June 6.
  
  Liverpool trio Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher and Peter Crouch will definitely miss out as they will be appearing in the Champions League final against AC Milan two days earlier.
  
  It is also highly possible there will be only limited involvement from the Chelsea and Manchester United contingent in McClaren's squad given they will be doing battle in the FA Cup final at Wembley on May 19.
  
  Owen Hargreaves may also be given a rest as Bayern Munich are not due to play their final league game until the week before England's first B international since the encounter with Belarus at Reading a year ago.
  
  With Micah Richards and Andrew Johnson definitely missing through injury, the Albania clash offers McClaren the perfect opportunity to give some of his fringe players a run-out ahead of the high-profile friendly with Brazil on June 1.
  
  And among that number could be Owen, who made a successful comeback from the major knee injury he suffered during the World Cup in Newcastle's Premiership defeat to Reading on Monday.
  
  The 27-year-old is expected to keep his place for Saturday's St James' Park seasonal-finale against Blackburn.
  
  Providing Owen suffers no ill effects, and Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd does not allow his demand for compensation from the FA for Owen's injury to get in the way, the former Liverpool and Real Madrid star should be the star attraction at Turf Moor.
  
  The stadium hosted a full England international in 1927, when the Three Lions lost to Wales.
  
  And the FA have pegged prices at £10 for adults and £5 for concessions in order to maximise the possibility of attracting a capacity 22,000 crowd.