Reuters Soccer Blog

Like many, Ronaldinho’s World Cup bid may have come too late

Ronaldinho has been left out of Brazil’s squad for next month’s friendly with Ireland, making it highly unlikely he will make Dunga’s list of 23 for June’s World Cup.

It’s quite a come down for the former world player of the year but he has been having a much better season at AC Milan following three years of problems. 

Ultimately, Ronaldinho may have timed his bid for South Africa too late just like several other players in Serie A.

Outside of Italy, MICHAEL OWEN is probably the best of example of a big name player looking set to miss the first finals in Africa.

A Champions League hat-trick for Manchester United in the group stages failed to persuade Alex Ferguson to give him more first team opportunities and the only way he can realistically make Fabio Capello’s squad now is to hope for a several injuries upfront.

But it is Serie A where a host of World Cup hopefuls are struggling to realise their dream. Here’s a list in no particular order. 

FRANCESCO TOTTI – Yes I know he is officially retired from international football but the AS Roma striker has been giving strong hints that he will make himself available for Italy’s World Cup squad after quitting following their 2006 triumph.

Diouf could scupper Owen’s World Cup race against time

Michael Owen’s quest to find favour under England coach Fabio Capello ahead of June’s World Cup finals may have got a little harder with the arrival of Senegalese striker Mame Biram Diouf at Manchester United. 

In only his second appearance since joining from Norwegian side Molde, Diouf opened his United account with a well-taken header in Saturday’s 3-0 Premier League win over Burnley and has firmly installed himself as a rival for the precious substitute time Owen has so far enjoyed unchallenged this season.

The last time United went shopping at Molde they brought back Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who turned out rather well with 126 goals in 366 appearances.

The excitement manager Alex Ferguson has shown over Diouf in recent weeks has been reflected in decisions to use him ahead of Danny Wellbeck and Owen in last weekend’s 1-1 draw with Birmingham City, and again against Burnley.

Owen, forever ingrained in the memory of England fans for his stunner against Argentina in the 1998 World Cup, is desperate for playing time to have any chance of a seat on England’s plane to South Africa, but time and perhaps Diouf, are against him.

Owen’s Champions League hat-trick against VfL Wolfsburg this season made everyone sit up and take notice, with admirers only too keen to announce the boy was back in town and ready to make a first appearance since a 2008 friendly against France and a bid to add to his 40 international goals.

A place on the bench, tasked with the role of ‘supersub’ when England are yawning their way to a 0-0 draw with the United States, is a romantic prospect but there are 20-somethings such as Carlton Cole, Jermain Defoe and Darren Bent who arguably have a better case for inclusion.

Would you choose Owen or Bent in a World Cup final?

Imagine the scenario … there are 10 minutes to go in the World Cup final and England are 1-0 down.

Fabio Capello can choose between Michael Owen and Darren Bent to come off the bench and rescue England’s World Cup dream. Who will he turn to?

A man with 40 England goals to his name and bags of international experience who has played for three of Europe’s biggest clubs? Or a striker with four caps, no international goals and a reputation for blowing hot and cold?

It seems Capello, the man credited with dragging England out of the doldrums and restoring their battered reputation, favours the latter.

The England manager effectively banged another nail in Owen’s World Cup coffin by selecting Sunderland’s Bent ahead of him for his squad to face Brazil on Nov. 14th.

And while the Italian says the England door remains open for Owen, his habit of leaving the country’s fourth highest international goalscorer kicking his heels means the above scenario in which he is forced to choose between Owen and another striker is unlikely to occur.

United beware: City look ready to make a lot more noise

Rarely can a defeat, and such a heart-breaking one at that, have been greeted with so much enthusiasm by the losers as Manchester City’s 4-3 reverse at Old Trafford.

Sports professionals are forever banging on about “taking the positives” from setbacks but for everyone connected with City, their performance and the whole occasion on Sunday showed that they really will be a force to be reckoned with over the next few months and years.

Despite being shorn of several of their best players and going behind after two minutes, City hung on to United like a terrier with a mouthful of trouser.

Every time United shook them off with a goal, they came back with a tighter bite. Even when the champions were peppering their goal during a period of dominance in the second half, City stayed in the game.

They were felled by Michael Owen’s 96th-minute winner, sparking wild scenes on the touchline and some enjoyable jousting from the managers.

Current England rugby manager Martin Johnson has said that he felt sure England would win the 2003 World Cup final after seeing how Australia celebrated their semi-final win over New Zealand and United’s joy, even allowing for the dramatic nature of the finale, was a few notches up on anything seen in a derby win for decades.

“They seemed quite excitable at the end which shows you what this win means to them,” said Mark Hughes. “It was reminiscent of some of the scenes with Brian Kidd and Alex Ferguson in days gone by and I saw Gary Neville running on the pitch like a lunatic.”

The goals will come for Owen, so should an England recall

Michael Owen missed four glorious chances in Manchester United’s 2-0 friendly win over Valencia but the very fact that he was there to miss them signals a real chance of the former Liverpool reviving his career for club and country.

Owen’s failure to find the net was described as a wasted opportunity by some, given that England coach Fabio Capello was there watching him, but consider … playing for Newcastle at the end of last season, when did he look in with a chance of scoring even one?

Here’s what Alex Ferguson said about Owen’s display:

“Michael showed marvellous movement. He should’ve scored four, but he was unlucky with the first one that he just chipped it over the goalkeeper’s shoulder and by the post. He deserved at least one of them.”

Whether he deserved to score or not is beside the point, which is that playing in this United team he can expect to have chances every time he plays. He scored four on United’s tour of the Far East and if he fluffed his lines on his Old Trafford debut he can safely reflect that it was only a dress rehearsal for the new season after all.

As for England, the fact that he is playing for United alongside Wayne Rooney will only help. Assuming he starts scoring in the Premier League, and given the sheer number of chances he can expect that seems inevitable, how long before Capello decides to translate the United forward partnership to the England set-up?

Owen, a busted flush or another inspirational Ferguson signing

Most Manchester United fans will not have been excited when they heard of the club’s plans to sign Michael Owen. The experienced England striker certainly did not fit the usual profile of Alex Ferguson’s signings, at too old and far too injury-prone.

But could Owen prove to be another one of Ferguson’s transfer masterstrokes to rank alongside the likes of Eric Cantona and Henrik Larsson?

The departures of Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez have left United very short of attacking options, leaving Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov as the only experienced forwards at Old Trafford.

Danny Wellbeck and Federico Macheda are promising players but surely not ready to play regularly at the highest level. So why not bring in Owen to help their development, a player with 40 international goals and despite his recent injury problems, a good scoring record throughout his career even in a poor Newcastle side over the last four years?

Ferguson surely has nothing to lose. Owen cost nothing, is on a salary dependent on the number of games he plays and the number of goals he scores. He is desperate to play at next year’s World Cup and, after a few years in the wilderness, has everything to prove at the age of 29. He could barely disguise the grin on his face during interviews on Saturday.

Owen to Manchester United could be a disaster on both sides. But, equally, it could be a match made in heaven.

Can Owen revive career at Manchester United?

On the face of it, replacing world player of the year Cristiano Ronaldo with an injury-prone forward whose side just got relegated does not seem like a great bit of business.

The British media is certain that Michael Owen, a free agent after leaving Newcastle United, is on the verge of joining Manchester United if he passes a stringent medical.

Has Alex Ferguson gone mad? Far from it. Having banked 80 million pounds from the sale of Ronaldo to Real Madrid, he is poised to bring in one of English football’s most renowned goalscorers for free. And Owen is still under 30.

Even if Owen only ends up playing half a season, he will still be able to contribute and his England partnership with Wayne Rooney always looked promising.

However, United fans will hope Owen and Wigan’s Antonio Valencia will not be the only new recruits.

What do you reckon? An inspired signing or a gamble doomed to failure?

Is there any way back for Owen?

Quite how far Michael Owen’s career has nosedived was underlined at the weekend when the Newcastle United striker was again overlooked for his country despite the lack of attacking options for coach Fabio Capello.

Capello watched three of his squad strikers hobble off at Wembley on Saturday during the 4-0 friendly victory over Slovakia with Emile Heskey and Carlton Cole both ruled out of Wednesday’s World Cup qualifier against Ukraine.

With Peter Crouch also carrying a knock, surely the time had come for Capello to get on the telephone to Owen, a player with 40 goals in 89 appearances for his country and who was voted Europe’s best player in 2001.

Instead, Capello bluntly dismissed the case for Owen, saying he felt the striker was not playing well enough for his club. Capello turned to the much-maligned Darren Bent, a willing runner but hardly a finisher in the same class as Owen.

It is hard to see where Owen now fits into Capello’s plans. The Italian appears to favour a big target man playing in tandem with the versatile Wayne Rooney. Owen’s penalty area prowess is clearly not enough for Capello.

At 29, and after a series of injuries, Owen does not have the explosive pace that was once his trademark and he can look hesitant in front of goal. He has scored just once in his last 10 matches for relegation-haunted Newcastle and it is a year since he last played for England.

So is there any hope of an international return for the former Liverpool man? A move away from St James’ Park would be a first step but any journey back to the top of European football looks like being a long and painstaking one.

Liverpool need a Litmanen, not Michael Owen

Rafa Benitez needs to pull a rabbit from the hat again in the New Year but if Liverpool are going to end that long wait for a title they need a more creative player than Michael Owen.

If Liverpool fans with longish memories have faith that the coming of a striker can make the difference you can understand why. The last time Liverpool were champions, back in 1990, their successful run-in was inspired by Ronny Rosenthal, an Israeli forward who arrived seemingly from nowhere on or near deadline day (my memory’s a bit fuzzy).

Gerard Houllier tried to repeat the trick by signing Nicolas Anelka in 2002 and Benitez tried Fernando Morientes in 2005 before bringing back ’God’ himself when he signed Robbie Fowler at the start of 2006. None of them did the required business.

Even though Liverpool could presumably pick Michael Owen up on the cheap, given that his contract at Newcastle is up at the end of the season, I believe the temptation to bring back another striker should be resisted.

Liverpool don’t need an out-an-out goalscorer, even if it’s true that they have struggled to find the net this season. Benitez has enough options up front as it is, even if Torres isn’t fit. Ryan Babel is eager for opportunities, David “Wash” Ngog has potential and Robbie Keane… well, presumably he’ll start scoring regularly soon.

What Liverpool need, as they have done for a long time, is more creativity in midfield. They need genuine inspiration, a player who can bring gasps from the crowd and give opposition defences more, much more, to worry about.

Why Owen’s England future looks grim under Capello

Fabio Capello said Michael Owen’s England career is not necessarily over after omitting the Newcastle man from his squad again for the Kazakhstan and Belarus World Cup qualifiers.

But the manager’s history in Serie A suggests it’s going to be mighty tough for Owen to get back.

Capello was in charge of similar footballers during his stints at AS Roma and Juventus in Vincenzo Montella and Alessandro Del Piero.

Like Owen, they are small, fast technically polished forwards with highly prolific track records.

And, like Owen, they were consistently pushed down the pecking order by Capello.

Although a past-his-best bit player at Roma now, Montella remains one of Serie A’s all-time top scorers and he was at his peak at the start of Capello’s time in the Italian capital.