Owen excited by captaincy

On a personal note, I must say I find the following story is very pleasing. Although I'm not particularly bothered about England, I am glad to see Owen happy again.

From the BBC Sport site

Michael Owen is relishing taking the England captain's armband from David Beckham in Azerbaijan on Wednesday.

Beckham suffered a fractured rib in a clash with Ben Thatcher after scoring in England's 2-0 win against Wales.

He would also have been suspended after picking up a yellow card, leaving Owen to take over the captaincy in Baku.

Owen said: "The last time I captained the team I think I scored two goals, so hopefully that's a good omen - we're in great heart, despite David's injury."

He added: "If I am captain it will be a great honour, although obviously I would prefer it if we had David Beckham in the team, especially after he proved his quality with the great goal."

Real Madrid striker Owen left the misery of his stuttering start at The Bernabeu behind him to play a key role in England's win, although his hopes of claiming the first goal from Frank Lampard have been dashed by Fifa.

He deflected Lampard's shot past Paul Jones but Owen was more concerned with England clinching a vital three points.

Owen said: "It's been great to be with England this week, a real breath of fresh air.

"I haven't had many minutes on the pitch in Madrid and if you aren't playing then you can't score goals, so to get 90 minutes was great.

England defender Gary Neville, meanwhile, believes the convincing performance answered the critics, who lambasted the team after the opening draw in Austria.

He said: "This was a very professional performance. We couldn't take a battering ram to Wales, we had to keep the ball and dismantle them piece by piece. I felt we did that well.

"We were supposed to be in ruins after the Austria game but now the same people will be saying we should run away with the group.

"This was a good win and proved we are a good side against a Wales team with some very good players.

"It was tough marking Ryan Giggs because we have played together so long at Manchester United. I know better than anyone how good he is and how he can make life difficult for any defender.

"But we kept the ball for long periods, which meant he didn't have it - and that obviously helped us."