Michael Owen is only 24 and he is preparing for his fourth major tournament. Steven Gerrard reached the same age this week and, with just half an hour of action in Euro 2000 and a complete no-show in the 2002 World Cup finals, he is anxious to make up lost ground.
With John Terry and Wayne Rooney having been in the running for this season’s young player of the year award, it might appear England can go on forever, yet there is an awareness within the squad that potential needs to be realised and the time to win something might have arrived.
It is not quite now or never, with regard to this month’s European Championship finals in Portugal, but it is now or Germany 2006 or never.
‘This competition or the next must represent the acid test for this group of players,†Owen says. ‘We were a goal up against Brazil in Japan and, had we beaten them, we knew the last World Cup was ours for the taking. Now we are two years on, stronger and much wiser, with something close to the same squad. That’s got to help. We are better this time round and I am looking forward to Portugal very positively.â€
Owen’s optimism is partly founded on fitness, both his own recovery from the persistent hamstring problem that reduced his effectiveness in the quarterfinal against Brazil and the general feeling that this squad is much fresher and stronger than the weak-kneed bunch Sven-Goran Eriksson took to Japan.
Two years ago, Gerrard and Gary Neville missed the trip, David Beckham was seriously compromised by a metatarsal fracture and Owen could not last the full 90 minutes in Shizuoka.
Now all four of those players are fully restored and, although Owen could easily have another four tournaments ahead of him, time is beginning to catch up with Neville, Beckham, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt. Eriksson himself is unlikely to be around after 2006, hence the focus on the next two tournaments.
By ‘this group of playersâ€, Owen means the England team centred on the generation that grew up at Manchester United, captained by Beckham, coached by Eriksson. The striker feels that an opportunity was lost in Japan, partly through injuries to key players, and knows that this England ought to be at their peak in this tournament and the next.
‘In the last World Cup I was an accident waiting to happen,†he says. ‘The accident got me against Denmark and I wasn’t able to play properly against Brazil. I wasn’t able to do the things I wanted, and, playing for your country, that’s an annoying feeling. I knew I had more to offer.
‘Sitting that last game out on the bench was terribly frustrating, but it was the story of that World Cup. In Japan we were always 10 times worse in the second half than we had been in the first. This time I am fresh, strong and confident about my fitness. I think we all feel better.â€
Scholes, when not worrying about his lack of goals and keeping his place in the team, feels the same way.
‘The present squad is a good mix of older players, young players and young players who seem to have been around a long time,†the Manchester United midfielder says. ‘Michael Owen and Steven Gerrard are young players with a lot of experience and Wayne Rooney could be a star of the tournament for us.
‘I don’t want to put too much pressure on someone so young, but he’s got that much ability, he’s capable of destroying teams. He’s got no fear. I’m sure the French will know a lot about him — everyone knows what a great prospect he is.â€
Some suggest that England’s best chance will come when Rooney, Gerrard and Owen are two years older in 2006, but Scholes, who will be pushing 32 by then, is not so sure.
‘We are ready for this tournament,†he says. ‘David, Gary and Steven are all fit this time and, apart from Rio, who is a loss, I think everyone the manager would like to pick is available. It might be a totally different team in two years. We should be ready to take our chance now.â€
That means getting off to a convincing start against the holders and favourites in Lisbon on June 13.
‘France are the team everyone thinks is going to win it, and you can’t argue with that,†Scholes says. ‘We’ve got to believe we have a chance as well.â€
His captain certainly does.
‘People look at that team and say it is unbeatable, but France are definitely beatable,†Beckham says. ‘It is going to be one of the hardest games in the competition, there’s no doubt about that, but we have a chance. We are not scared of their players, we are not scared of any team. I am sure France feel the same way.
‘There hasn’t been any banter between Zinedine Zidane and myself [they are teammates at Real Madrid], just respect from each side.
‘We both realise what a big game it is going to be. I think he realises we have a great squad, and I certainly realise they have a great squad of players. I don’t mind France being first up, either. We don’t want to let Thierry [Henry] warm up and get his legs
going. If you want to win, you have to put yourself up against the best, and they are definitely the best.†—