michael owen injured again
You have to feel sorry for Michael Owen, Manchester United who took a flyer on signing the former England regular on a reported pay per match basis last year have reported that the player will not feature in the rest of the season following a hamstring injury picked up in the Carling Cup Final at Wembley on Sunday.
Alex Ferguson has said that the injury is worse than first thought and Owen will need yet another operation after pulling up in the game against Aston Villa and being replaced on the pitch by Wayne Rooney.
Owen had made the most of one of his rare starts for Manchester United by scoring the equalising goal for his team, but his injury left the current England favourite Rooney to score the winning goal to take the Carling Cup back to Old Trafford.
The chances of Owen making the South Africa World Cup playing for England were already extremely slim given the few chances that he has had to impress at United, but now there is no chance of a recall to the England squad and I wonder if there is a future for the player who was not so long ago considered among the most feared strikers in the game.
It remains to be seen whether Michael Owen can overcome this latest setback and indeed if he does will he ever get close to the fantastic player he was or will he decide enough is enough and turn his back on the game for good.
3 comments so far
1 Simon // Mar 5, 2010 at 8:10 pm
I feel for Michael Owen too.
He has been dogged with injuries for the whole of his career. The last four years for Michael has been stop and start. He looked sharp on Sunday and took his goal really well too.
Good luck Michael
Regards
Simon
1Footballer.com
2 Tactical Foul // Mar 5, 2010 at 8:58 pm
Well, to be fair, it’s one less thing for the media to go gung-ho about. I’m talking about Owen not going to the World Cup.
Fabio Capello’s said it a million times before, and he may say it again, that he’s not going to take consistently crocked players into the World Cup. Agreed, Owen had come into some semblance of fitness after his time at Newcastle, but honestly, did he really have a chance at all in the first place?
Rooney’s little problem that saw him benched for the Carling Cup final ensured thaw Owen would be given relatively more time to make his case on the pitch.
But Micky-O’s still behind Rooney, Jermain Defoe, Peter Crouch, and arguably Heskey. In my humble opinion, the first three are certainly going to South Africa. Now, Capello admittedly prefers the big-man/little-man combination, which means that he would need Heskey around. And given the chap’s form during the qualifiers, he’s already made a case for himself, despite his infrequent appearances at Villa.
So, back to the original conundrum…did Owen truly have any semblance of hope in making the squad in the first place? =D
3 James // Mar 7, 2010 at 10:49 pm
You have to wonder how many more operations Owen’s body can take.