Newcastle United striker Michael Owen has been named in the 20-man squad for
As we know – Owen has played only two games for Newcastle since returning from his anterior cruciate knee ligament injury (ACL) suffered in the 2-2 draw with Sweden on June 22nd last year.
Newcastle’s Michael Owen
Also included in the squad are Newcastle midfielders Scott Parker and Kieron Dyer as Steve McClaren plans a run out for many of the fringe players on the England international scene.
Kieron Dyer and Scottie Parker
Five players also received first call-ups for the senior international scene: Everton’s Joleon Lescott, Spurs’ Michael Dawson, ,
Also included in the squad are strikers David Nugent of Preston and Alan Smith of Manchester United – who has shown excellent form since returning from injury – so it’s good news for Smith that he has been recalled to the international scene.
Manchester City’s
Surprisingly Bolton Wanderers skipper Kevin Nolan is also omitted.
Kevin has recently been in the news with rumors that Sam Allardyce may try to tempt him away from Bolton to Newcastle – once he is appointed Newcastle manager – set for Wednesday of next week.
We think if that happens Nolan’s chances of internal recognition will be enhanced.
The Squad is as follows:
Robinson (Tottenham), Foster (Manchester United); P Neville (Everton), Lescott (Everton), Dawson (Tottenham), King (Tottenham), Barry (Aston Villa), Shorey (Reading); Hargreaves (Bayern Munich), Jagielka (Sheffield United), Lennon (Tottenham), Dyer (Newcastle), Parker (Newcastle), Jenas (Tottenham), Downing (Middlesbrough), Bentley (Blackburn); Owen (Newcastle), Defoe (Tottenham), Smith (Manchester United), Nugent (Preston).
On a cautionary note – let’s hope (and pray) Michael comes out of this game unscathed.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Ed Harrison // May 10, 2007 at 7:29 PM
Do you think Owen should play for England B – or go straight into the full England team?
2 W // May 10, 2007 at 8:23 PM
Robinson in the B team does that mean James is no.1? Owen should play. It will help his confidence and Mc Claren’s worries.
3 Ahmed Bilal // May 11, 2007 at 7:40 AM
McClaren probably took him to play him for the first half only. He’ll probably be used again as a sub against Brazil, and then AGAIN as a sub in the qualifier.
If not, I don’t see him playing a full game for England soon, unless he’s really really match-fit.
4 Ed Harrison // May 11, 2007 at 8:47 AM
Good points – get him match fit and assess him before England qualifier
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