Post by Salem6 on Jun 21, 2006 9:22:55 GMT
Michael Owen will be ruled out of the World Cup once a scan on Wednesday confirms the extent of his knee injury.
Owen fell awkwardly on his right knee as he played a pass
The England striker twisted his right knee early on in the draw with Sweden, and goalkeeper Paul Robinson told BBC Sport the injury "was a bad one".
"Everyone's gutted for Michael. He did his knee quite seriously and won't play again in the World Cup," Robinson said.
Manager Sven-Goran Eriksson feared the worst, saying: "Maybe he's out of the tournament, it doesn't look good."
It looked as if Owen suffered serious knee ligament damage when playing a pass to Ashley Cole in the first few minutes of the 2-2 draw in Cologne.
The 26-year-old, who was winning his 80th cap, crawled off the pitch as soon as he hit the ground, suggesting he knew something was badly wrong.
Ice was put on the knee and a brace was later applied.
He will have a scan later on Wednesday at England's Baden-Baden base camp, having flown back there with the rest of the squad overnight.
England skipper David Beckham admitted he thought Owen's injury was serious.
"It's sad - Michael's one of those players you need in big tournaments. It's unfortunate for him and for us," Beckham said.
Former England captain Alan Shearer, who played with Owen at Newcastle last season, told Match of the Day on Tuesday night: "I have had a text from him. He's in a lot of pain and he hopes it's not bad."
The bad injury caps a nightmare season for Owen, who returned to English football last summer in a £17m switch from Real Madrid to Newcastle.
He enjoyed a successful start to his Newcastle career, but broke his foot on New Year's Eve at Tottenham.
Owen battled back to play at the World Cup but looked less than fully fit and was substituted in both of England's opening games, without scoring.
Short of strikers
Now it appears his World Cup is over - which also leaves England alarmingly short of strikers.
Wayne Rooney, who has also just recovered from a broken metatarsal, made his first start on Tuesday since suffering that injury.
Peter Crouch and the untested Theo Walcott are the only other established strikers in Eriksson's squad.
The Swede was heavily criticised when he picked his World Cup party for only including four strikers - leaving Jermain Defoe and Darren Bent at home.
Looking ahead to how England may line up in attack without Owen, Robinson admitted: "It looks like we'll go through the rest of the tournament with Wayne Rooney and Peter Crouch and hopefully they'll do well."
news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2006/teams/england/5100516.stm