Owen World Cup OVER!

[The Tye]

as many already knew.....

Michael Owen is out of the World Cup and flying back to England after injuring his knee against Sweden, the Football Association has confirmed.
The 26-year-old striker twisted his right knee in the second minute of the 2-2 draw with the Swedes in Cologne.

He had a scan near England's training camp at Baden-Baden on Wednesday.

"Obviously it's a massive blow to suffer the injury - and be out of the World Cup. As soon as it happened I knew I was in trouble," said Owen.

Owen said that he would return to England and work with the Newcastle medical staff to start a recovery programme

"I'm clearly sorry to be leaving the lads in Germany, but I'm convinced they can go on and achieve success.

"I'll be following all the matches very closely and giving them my full support, hopefully all the way to Berlin.

"My main objective is now to get fit as quickly as possible for Newcastle United."

Sven-Goran Eriksson said: "Michael has had terrible luck with injuries since Christmas.

"I feel very sorry for him to miss out on the rest of the World Cup - it's blow to him and a big loss for the team.

"However I am sure Michael will work very hard to get back as quickly as possible for Newcastle and England.

"He is a true professional and a very mentally strong person."

However Eriksson said his team was still capable of lifting the World Cup despite the loss of Owen.

"I think we can easily handle the situation because we haven't seen Theo Walcott yet," Eriksson told Five Live.

"We have the players in the squad who can play second striker such as Joe Cole and Steven Gerrard and Aaron Lennon can do it too.

"I'm not that worried about it. We don't want any more injuries on strikers but I'm not worried," added Eriksson.

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.

[GeordiePhantom]

The Magpies' record signing had to leave the field after only a minute of England's 2-2 draw with Sweden in Cologne on Tuesday night, and Mr Shepherd said he had been informed by the Football Association that the 26-year-old had suffered a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. He is expected to be out for 5 months.

Info taken from official Newcastle United website.

[Lord Zola]

The Magpies' record signing had to leave the field after only a minute of England's 2-2 draw with Sweden in Cologne on Tuesday night, and Mr Shepherd said he had been informed by the Football Association that the 26-year-old had suffered a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. He is expected to be out for 5 months.

Info taken from official Newcastle United website.

I feel sorry for Owen, but a blessing in disguise, me thinks.