Owen calls it a day

He might not have played for England for donkies years, to be honest he has not played much football for anyone in recent years, but Michael Owen definitely deserves a bit of airtime as far as England goes following his announcement that he is going to retire.

Owen this week announced that he will retire from football at the end of the season when his Stoke contract ends.

In a career that saw him make his debut for Liverpool in 1997 he has gone on to represent them, Real Madrid, Newcastle, Man United and now Stoke, during this time he turned out for England 89 times and has over 200 career goals to his name.

I am pretty sure that had it not been for injuries Owen would have won 100-plus caps for England and almost certainly become our all-time record goalscorer, instead of being fourth on that list.

Owen had some great moments for England, winning the penalty - later admitting he 'could have stayed on his feet' - against Argentina in 2002 and scoring a hat-trick in Munich against Germany in that 5-1 spanking of Germany, although I reckon that 'that goal' against Argentina in 1998 ranks right up there?

Having made his Liverpool debut just a little over a year prior to that in May 2007, a game he marked with a goal against Wimbledon, the teenager found himself on the plane to France as part of the 1998 world cup squad and scored that cracking goal against the Argies that was probably recreated on pitches up and down the country by aspiring footballers...

Injuries have always been cruel to Owen, but in spite of this he finishes with a fine goalscoring record, has won many a winners medal, and collected the Ballon d'Or as Europe's finest. Had it not been for injuries chances are Owen would have won even more, and gone on to be regarded as a truly world class striker.

That said without a doubt, for me, there was a period in his career when Owen was truly world class, so with that in mind he can still be regarded as such I guess, he certainly will be one of the names on most peoples lists when they compile a top 10-25 strikers in world football, right?

But for injuries eh - although I think it fair Owen should be remembered as a footballer for more than just his injuries...

Vital England on:

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