| Michael Owen's profileRoad to World Cup 2006PhotosBlogLists |  Tools  Help |
|
July 19 Michael Owen, July 19th 2006Congratulations to Germany for organising a fantastic world cup. From a player’s point of view everything was exceptional and, having spoken to friends, I know that the same is true from the fans’ perspective as well. The stadiums were wonderful, very modern, with excellent facilities and always full; the transport was efficient and the hotels excellent; and everyone was fantastically helpful. They also all spoke impeccable English, which helps! The players were provided with everything we could possibly need.
A lot of my friends and family went to Germany and they all spoke wonders of the tournament too. They loved the stadiums, they were impressed with how easy and cheap it was to get about and they have all been raving about the fans festivals that have been laid on in all the cities – every city had giant screens and lots of special events laid on for the supporters. That, they said, helped to create a real party atmosphere, with fans mixing trouble-free and spending time singing songs together and really enjoying the football. In that sense, it is sometimes a shame to be involved as a footballer – you don’t always appreciate just what a huge event the world cup is, how much of a global party it can become.
One thing my friends said really struck me. They kept telling me that all the stadiums were incredibly clean. The reason was a simple but effective idea: every drink came with a Euro deposit for the “glass” (it was plastic). That automatically meant the everyone took their glasses back at the end of the game instead of leaving them around and letting rubbish pile up, because that way they got a bit of their money back. Even in the simple things, the Germans arranged a great world cup. Let’s hope South Africa can do the same in four years’ time. July 18 Michael Owen, July 18th 2006The truth is that when you have suffered a serious injury, you watch football in a different way. In fact, sometimes it’s hard to watch it at all. You can’t help but feel slightly less enamoured with the game and you don’t enjoy it as much. Nonetheless, I did watch the rest of the tournament after suffering my injury against Sweden and there were times when I found myself fascinated by it, as well as by players who really impressed me.
As England got knocked out in the quarter-finals, I ended up disappointed, while I was also surprised by how little impact Brazil and Argentina had on the World Cup. Argentina at least started well and promised great things – they were simply sensational against Serbia and Montenegro – but I felt that Brazil never really got going.
Apart from Italy, who I thought looked superbly organised and tactically very astute (if not exactly breathtakingly exciting) throughout the tournament, the big success story for me was Germany. No one expected anything from them and just a few months ago, Jurgen Klinsmann was under intense pressure. He did not look like he was going to win anyone over but by the end of the tournament everyone was desperate for him to stay on. The third-fourth place play off is normally a nothing match but for Germany it was a chance to celebrate their achievements: a semi-final place, the best young player of the tournament in Lucas Podolski, and the top scorer, Miroslav Klose.
I was very impressed with Klose. He scored 5 goals, the same as at the last world cup when Ronaldo beat him to the Golden boot, but he has also developed. Last time, he scored them all with his head, this time he proved that he has a greater all round game than that. Apparently, Klinsmann encouraged him to practice with both feet at home by trying to turn the lights out by kicking the ball at the switches. I’m sure he must have broken a few ornaments, but there’s no doubt that the practice paid off! July 07 Nine million campaignFootball has given me so much, which is why I am so happy to be supporting the Nine Million Campaign to use football to help refugee children throughout the world. There are 20 million refugees, of which nine million are children, and the campaign aims to help them by raising money and awareness. The project aims to provide education and opportunities for children. A third of the money raised will be used to hand out nine million specially-developed hard-wearing footballs - one for every child in refugee camps all over the world - in an attempt to bring some joy to their lives. The chance to play and have fun might seem basic but it is denied to too many kids. FilmsI must confess I'm not much of a movies man. At home, I grab the telly control and put on the football, the horse racing or the sports news. Otherwise, it's only ever cartoons for my little daughter Gemma. I don’t tend to watch films and I reckon I have only been to the cinema about three times in my entire life. I haven’t been for ages and ages - apart from going to the Premiere of "Goal!" because of Newcastle United. I've seen "Real Madrid, the Movie" too for the same reason. But if I had to name a Top Five, it would be virtually impossible; in fact, I would struggle to name five films I have ever seen! "Jurassic Park", I've seen. My dad told me I had to watch "Sea Biscuit" once so I watched it at home, fell asleep and woke up with the music from the closing credits playing. I saw "Cool Runnings" when I was about ten, my mate Jamie Carragher loves "Jerry Maguire" and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", but I haven’t seen either. So, I reckon my top five would have to be "Rocky." "Rocky I", " Rocky II", "Rocky III", "Rocky IV" and " Rocky V". Ha ha! That's my top five! July 06 What the world cup means back homeWhen you play in a big world cup match, you know it's massive back home but you never quite appreciate the sheer scale of it - or at least, you don’t see the details. It's not just 50 million supporters back home, it's that there is only one game on and it's yours, it's that people are watching all over the world. It's only afterwards when you come home that you reflect on it and someone says: "Oh, you should have seen the pub when you scored". And then you think: "How many pubs are there in England? And how many households?" You know it's big but sometimes it takes somebody to say something like that for you to fully appreciate it, to think: "Yeah, it must be unbelievable."
I was an England fan once myself as a kid so I have been through the traumas of getting knocked out on penalties in Italy; I know the highs and lows. It will be strange when I retire and go back to being a fan again. After all, that's what all of us are - as well as players, we're all fans. It's great to be able to do something about it, instead of watching it on the telly and kicking every ball but doing it emotionally rather than physically. July 05 My perfect dayAway from football, my perfect day would be: get up at 8 o'clock, go and play 18 holes of golf. I'd take my suit with me and walk straight off the golf course which we have got in Chester, which is right next the race course, and go to the horses. I've done it too: our lads' day was 8 o'clock tee off, 18 holes, in by 12 o'clock, bit of lunch, walk down to the races, then after the races out into town on Saturday night after my horse has won, and have a few beers together. How often do my horses win? Well, I had one win a Chester and that is exactly what happened! And that was the best day I ever had! We went to the races and met up with my wife and my daughter there. They were all dressed in beautiful dresses, my horse won, my mates had a great time, and then it was into town. Perfect! July 04 Penalty - shoot outNo matter how much you practice penalties, you just can't recreate the pressure of a shoot-out. We practiced this time, but we didn’t in 1998 and the result has been the same. I have taken two in major tournaments for England and you really can’t recreate that pressure. In training you can bend them into the top corner but when you don't know where your legs are - when you have got to look down to see your legs because you simply can’t feel them - it's totally different. No amount of training prepares you for that.
If you do practice, you're not going to do yourself any harm so if it does give you that extra confidence then I suppose it is worth doing but I am not sure it makes much difference. You can never remember what you did in training when you're on the pitch. Often the best players on the training pitch are the worst players in the team when it matters too - and what happens if you miss one in training? Your confidence will be shot to bits and maybe you're best not to take one at all. It depends how your mind works, I suppose.
The penalty shoot-out is truly nerve-wracking. You have got ten seconds before you put that ball down on the spot and it plays with your mind. You have to try not to think about it because there are so many questions. You can be there wondering: My team-mates are stood behind me, what are they doing? How many people are watching this? How many pubs and clubs and houses? What's the manager going to think if I score? What's he going to think if I miss? What will happen to me if I miss? You could spend all night on the questions but you have got ten seconds to just block everything out and try to focus on scoring a goal. It is more nerve wracking than anything else in the game. June 22 Michael Owen - June 22nd 2006I am absolutely devastated to have been ruled out of the world cup, but I think England can still win the competition and I’ll be their number one fan from now on.
I had a scan on my knee on the morning after the game against Sweden and it confirmed my worst fears. When I fell to the turf the pain in my knee was so bad that I knew that it was something serious.
The tests have shown that I have ruptured my cruciate ligament and it looks like I could be out of action for the rest of the year, not just the world cup.
Naturally, I am heart broken. I was looking forward to the world cup so much and had worked so hard to be fit. The rest of the England squad were gutted to hear the news but when I left the camp I wished them luck and told them they can go on and win the tournament. I’ll be right behind them
In fact I hope to be in Berlin on July 9 to collect my winner’s medal with the rest of the lads.
For me now, it’s the long road back to recovery and the wait for the swelling to go down. I’m back in the UK now and scheduled to meet with the Newcastle FC medical staff to examine the extent of the injury and work out the best plan going forward.
I’ll keep in touch with MSN as any news develops. June 16 Michael Owen - June 16th 2006It's important for us to have got off to a good start and won our opening two games and I am sure we will play better in coming matches. It is very difficult against teams that come to defend against you: I think we will perform better against better sides, like Italy, Spain or Brazil.
Personally, I wouldn't say I've played the best two games of my career but I'm quite content. I'm not the type of player, like Wayne Rooney, who is always involved even when we are playing badly: my job is to get on the end of crosses. I've never shirked responsibility and if I'm given chances then I'm sure I'll score goals. I've only had one chance in the last two games, plus a rebound that was blocked - and I kicked myself because I didn't score it. But I'm still a decent finisher - I won't lose that. I'm feeling fine and feel like I'm playing well. I've been training well and scoring goals in training, so I'm not worried in the slightest.
If the manager wants to bring me off and put Wayne Rooney on, as he did against Trinidad, then that's his decision. I'm not worried about it. If I'm sat on the bench, I'm sat on the bench. I've been on the bench in my career before and if the manager thinks it is the right thing, he'll do it. That's football. We've got 23 players.
It was good to see Wayne back. He's been with us for quite a while and has been training as normal. He's been kicking his heels a bit, so it was nice to see him on the pitch. Hopefully now he'll get fully match fit and we'll see the best of him later on in the tournament. Michael Owen - June 16th 2006At the world cup, as has been the case this time in Baden-Baden, the England team is invariably based in a small town, miles from anything. There's England and the next closest team might be 100 miles away so the whole of the local area gets behind you. Local kids come to the hotel to meet the players and become honorary English fans. That's nice but because it gets really built up around you, it also increases the sense of being enclosed by it, engulfed by it all. . We literally train, eat the right things and just pass the time as best we can - some play on their computer, some play cards, or whatever.
You try to pass the time as best you can but basically we're just preparing ourselves for each game. That preparation is always so important that you have to do it properly. It can be torturous, although it depends what kind of person you are. I have been brought up in a big family and I like having people around. If everyone is quietly passing the time in their rooms playing on their computer or reading then I get really bored. But if everyone is in the games room playing cards or pool, or if everyone is in the same television room, watching the match, shouting and bantering with each other, then I'm fine. Michael Owen - June 16th 2006The 1998 world cup changed my life forever and created a huge level of interest in me, which was a bit strange. I did some adverts and so on but there were things I just didn’t want to do, things that didn’t suit me. I'm not interested in being a celebrity and only did things that fitted my image and personality. I'm fairly normal really: I'm alright when I am with they lads but I am quite shy and I can’t imagine anything worse than when I have retired still getting chased around or people asking: "What's your son doing? What's your daughter doing?" Things like that don’t interest me. When I retire I want to retire properly; I don’t want to be famous.
I can have a laugh with anyone in the dressing room, which is where I really let my hair down, or go out and get drunk like anyone else. I am not whiter than white. I'm not the perfect man. And you start to think: "who cares?" I want people to think I'm a decent fellah, sure, but I don’t need them to think I'm perfect and I don’t want to have worry about that. I'd rather just be myself. June 13 Michael Owen - June 13th 2006Our aim is of course to win the world cup and I think we have a group of players who can achieve that at last, but let's not get carried away with us, us, us. I'm sure Italy, Spain and Portugal wonder why they haven't been winning it either. There's only one winner every four years. We're right in thinking we have a chance, but so are eight or nine other teams. A lot of people think we've got a divine right to win because this is our best team for years, but football doesn't work like that. We need to change the perception that we are serial losers. Michael Owen - June 13th 2006If you look at football over the last 50 years, there has been a gradual decrease in goals and you don't see too many 10-0s these days, but two, three or four goals per game is great. when you look at our squad I'm sure there's plenty of goals in it. We have some midfield players who are fantastic at getting forward to score. Stevie Gerrard doesn't even need to get forward - he's amazing and can stick them in from midfield like he did in the FA Cup final. He and Frank Lampard are both in double figures for the season, David Beckham and Joe Cole score goals and Peter Crouch is on a nice run.
Obviously, I haven't played as many games this season because of my injury, but I'm content. I'm not the only player to have suffered a broken foot and I know I can perform at this level. My scoring record shows no sign of slacking: I only played a handful of games for Newcastle this year and scored goals, the season before I scored plenty of goals in Madrid, and I scored against Jamaica and two against Argentina. I'm confident that can continue in Germany. I was asked the other day who's going to be top scorer. I want to do well, I want the team to do well, and if it can’t be me, I would love it to be Wayne Rooney or Peter Crouch. June 09 Michael Owen - June 9th 2006The first world cup I remember as a kid was 1990 in Italy. Then I watched 1994 on telly at home, which was nowhere near as good. It's never the same if England aren’t competing. If England aren’t in it, I'll support the home nations - and in 1994 I enjoyed watching Ireland - but it’s not the same. Frankly, it was a miserable time in the USA. Since then, I have been a lot closer to the major tournaments. I went to Euro96 as a supporter and because I was playing with the England youth team I got tickets to go and watch the England-Scotland game at Wembley, when I was 16 or 17. I was in the reserves at Liverpool at the time and I was really starting to think that I could make a name for myself in the game. It was very exciting to be watching that and imagining myself there. Mind you, I never imagined I would become part of it all so quickly of course.
Looking back on 1990, what I most remember was the sheer excitement of everything: England score a goal and you look out onto the street and you can see people running round in their front rooms and you go down the road and the pubs are all jam packed. The whole buzz of the country is unbelievable there's nothing like the buzz of the country during a world cup. The cars are all full of England flags and you see pictures of London in Trafalgar square and hundreds of people diving in the water. The whole country is in party mood. Until we get knocked out, of course. And then it’s back to work, back to depression. Imagine if we won it this year. People would be in party mood forever! June 06 Michael Owen - June 6th 2006My game has changed over the years. In my first full game for Liverpool against Sheffield Wednesday, I had cramp in every muscle in my body after half an hour. When you get older you maintain your body - you can go through a game and be as strong in the last minute as the first - but when you're a kid you want to run everywhere and get every ball, which is exactly what I did. I was so excited to be in the first team that I probably did twice as much running as I should have and I was dead for three or four days after. I couldn't move my legs and I was only a young lad. I was going hell for leather and something has got to give. You have to learn to manage your efforts. Then there was the injury. If I had just come straight back I might have carried on playing the same way, but after a year or two of little injuries, I was conscious of it and that altered things, so my game changed. I couldn’t say how many sprints I have to produce per game now because it depends on the nature of the opposition and how the team is playing. If your team isn’t playing well, you don't see the ball. That's the thing about strikers and goalkeepers: you can either be called on constantly or get bored. You can get selfish and come back into to midfield to get the ball but you're not really doing your team any favours. That is where I have evolved as a player; I'd like to think I have become a bit more intelligent. June 01 Michael Owen - June 1st 2006The broken metatarsal I suffered this season is not the only injury I have had. A few years ago I had recurrent problems with my hamstring. I had one big injury that kept me out for four months and over the following two years I had a series of minor ones, related to that, which kept me out for two or three weeks at a time. At one stage I thought it was going to effect my whole career; it had been going on for two years and I was starting to wonder if there was something genetically wrong with me. I had to get my head round that and make sure I put in the work to get back to where I had been. Rehab didn't go well; Liverpool lost their physio at the end of the season and that was exactly the time when I was injured, so I didn't have any real rehabilitation for a couple of months. Although the muscle healed ok in terms of the injury, it got smaller and smaller, weaker and weaker. My hamstring was only half as strong as it should have been and that effected my game. So did the psychological effects: after a year or two of struggling I became conscious of the injury and the risks; no matter who you are, if an injury keeps happening, you're nervous. It was constant mind games really. For two years, I was battling with my mind more than anything else, but now I am ok. And I am confident that the metatarsal won't have the same lasting effects; muscle injuries have a tendency to recur; broken bones don't. May 30 Michael Owen - May 30th 2006It was disappointing to lose the England B friendly against Belarus but better to lose now than when it really matters in the World Cup. Besides, I thought there were some positive signs. In the first half, we were sharp and created a lot of decent chances. The wide men in particular looked very lively and delivered a lot of balls into the box. Aaron Lennon was very impressive - he was quick, brave and really got forward. The second half was very different, however. Our passing was sloppy, we gave the ball away far too much - especially in the middle of the field - and when you're relying on shots from 30 yards it's a sign that things aren’t going well. We need to sort that out, but there is time and, of course, there are still a lot of very good players to come back into the team.
It was an important game for Theo Walcott. I'm sure he would have been very nervous beforehand but hopefully he feels more settled now. He's been with the lads for a while, he looks comfortable and getting a game under his belt will help. I thought he looked lively. He came on and ran at them straight away and had a great shot from distance, but it is hard to judge any striker when the team isn’t creating much. If you get more of the ball you can show more; we didn’t give Theo much of a chance. As for my foot, it feels fine. I knew it would. There's always going to be a bit of rustiness, but I have been training perfectly for a few weeks now and I was confident everything was going to be ok. Hopefully, it's onwards and upwards from now. May 25 Remembering 98With all the talk about Theo Walcott making the England squad, people have inevitably asked me about my experience of going the 1998 World Cup as a teenager. I must confess, it was strange; it crept up on me a bit, like a growing reality. A few months before it was just a distant dream, four or five months before it was a possibility and maybe a month before it was virtually a certainty that I was going to go. In that sense it was different to Theo's experience, but I was still going as a squad player not a starter. I knew as a striker that whenever we needed a goal as a last resort I might get a chance but I never expected it to turn out the way it did.
To get a chance against Tunisia was fantastic but when to come on at 2-0 with the game is not ideal. The bottom line was that I wanted to get in the team, not just go to the World Cup. The next game was a real opportunity at one-nil down against Romania to come on when it matters. I hit the post and then scored a goal, so I managed to get a place in the team for the Colombia game and, well, everyone knows about the Argentina game, don't they?
Much as I was disappointed that we had been knocked out, I had mixed feelings afterwards. If I did the same now, I would be disappointed but when you are a youngster coming through and you desperately want to be a professional footballer and be a regular in the England team, there is excitement there too. As a kid, it is perhaps a bit more individual, especially when you're not in the team - or not sure that you will be. Once you get in the team, it's more about the team, but any substitute will tell you the same: when you're on the bench, you're just itching to get involved. You want the team to do well but you need an opportunity. It sounds awful because you don’t wish any harm at all upon your team-mates but you do want a chance. Then you have to take it: if I hadn’t have taken my chance in those twenty minutes against Romania - which was my acid test - people wouldn’t be talking about Argentina. May 12 New England BossThe general feeling in England was that the national team manager should be an Englishman if possible and I think Steve McClaren is a good choice. He has a great record, having worked his way through as a coach at Oxford, Derby and Manchester United before making the successful transition to manager with Middlesbrough. He has worked with the England team for a number of years, has impressed everyone and is a popular choice amongst the players. He has been responsible for much of our training and I expect him to remain hands-on now that he has moved up from England coach to England boss - I don’t expect him to take a step back from the training pitch. He's a very active coach who takes interesting sessions and is capable of having a laugh with the players. Training sessions with Steve are always enjoyable and you feel like you can improve when you work with him. He talks to the players a lot and listens too - he's a good communicator.
The continuity is positive as well. It's not as if we need to fix anything - there's nothing broken with England. The new boss will have his own ideas, I am sure, but he will also try to just keep the ball rolling. We have a good team and a good set-up: we don't need any radical changes. He also knows that the England manager's job is not a normal job - he knows the pressures, he has seen it all before from the inside, he knows the FA, so it won't catch him by surprise. I think his appointment is a very good move. May 08 Injury updateMy foot is fine. I finished the game against Birmingham - my first game back since breaking my Metatarsal in December - with a bit of discomfort but I have been given the all clear. Everything was perfect for ten minutes or so but then I started to notice an ache in my foot and after the game it throbbed for about half an hour. I'm not worried about it now, though. I have spoken to countless physios, as well as players who have had the same injury, and they all reassured me that some discomfort is normal when you go back to playing. I also saw the surgeon the following day and had some X-Rays done, which revealed that the bone is fine. I just have to grit my teeth and get on with it; the pain will go after a while. It wasn't a serious pain either - there were no cracks and no crunches in my foot, it was just an ache. The fracture is fine and the screw is in place still. In fact, part of the irritation is just a case of getting used to having a foreign body in my foot. I am clear of any major worries and there is no rush for me to get back. There is plenty of time still and I will be fine for the world cup. |
|
|
