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'Class of his Owen' England forward satisfies press, but not Keegan
Posted: Sunday May 28, 2000 12:58 PM
LONDON (AP) -- Michael Owen satisfied the critics and thousands of England fans at Wembley that he is back to make an impact in next month's European Championship. Owen outshone David Beckham's silver boots with a flash of brilliance to score England's goal in a 1-1 tie with Brazil at Wembley on Saturday and earned rave reviews about his overall performance. "Class of his Owen," "Owen's back with a bang" and "Owen outshines Brazil and Becks" were some of the headlines to greet the Liverpool star's performance in Sunday's papers. Sidelined for much of the season because of a hamstring problem that would not go away, Owen, 20, showed signs of the form that made him an international star at the 1998 World Cup in France, where he scored a memorable goal against Argentina. This one wasn't so spectacular. But the way he controlled Alan Shearer's pass, turned past the tackling Ze Roberto and fired into the net showed that he had not lost his predatory style in front of goal. Keegan wasn't shouting from the rooftops about Owen's form. He wants to see the Liverpool youngster produce those performances on a regular basis. "Every time Michael got the ball he gave Brazil tremendous problems," the England coach said. "In his last performance here against Scotland [in a 1-0 loss] was below the standard he expects of himself. "But against Brazil he looked like he's got goals in him and he really got the bit between his teeth. Now he's got to do that every time. "Knowing Michael, he'd like to be first on the team-sheet, but the reasons for that are what has happened to him over the past year with injury," Keegan said. "I've certainly got to keep working on Michael holding it up a bit better. You want perfection." Owen, who hadn't scored for England since a 6-0 crushing of Luxembourg in September, was delighted with his performances against the world's No. 1 ranked team. "It's great to score against such opposition," he said. "I scored that World Cup goal against Argentina but I know I need to reproduce it at this level and scoring against Brazil is great for the confidence. "I have never doubted my own ability. I've done the business at the top level before and to do well against the best team in the world is very pleasing," the Liverpool striker said. "I don't want to be just a normal professional. I want to reach the top and you've got to play well against the best teams in the world to do that. "Would I like to be known as the world's best goalscorer? I wouldn't mind. Everybody does, but I believe I can be. "I am so keen to improve and learn and playing teams like Brazil can only help me learn. But then as a 20-year-old playing against Brazil you have got to learn quickly or you are going to get battered." While Owen appears to be getting back to his best, one problem facing Keegan is that he wants to see all his strikers in action before he names his Euro 2000 squad on Thursday. That means he wants to see Robbie Fowler -- another striker plagued by injuries during the season -- Kevin Phillips, Andy Cole and Emile Heskey and yet only has one more game, against Ukraine on Wednesday, before he names the squad. The possibility is he may rest both Owen and Alan Shearer to give the others a chance to shine against Andriy Shevchenko, Serhiy Rebrof and company.
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