Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Michael Owen, Paul Scholes, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, England, Liverpool, Manchester United
John McDougall
Topics: Michael Owen, Paul Scholes, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, England, Liverpool, Manchester United
Michael Owen believes England could have won a second World Cup if certain players had started together in their heyday for the Three Lions.
Owen scored 40 goals in 89 caps for England between 1998 and 2008, playing in five different tournaments for his country after announcing himself on the world stage at France 1998.
The striker came through the youth team ranks at Liverpool and scored 158 goals in nearly 300 games at Anfield, winning the FA Cup, the League Cup twice, the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Super Cup.
Owen moved to Real Madrid in 2004 and spent one season at the Santiago Bernabeu before returning to England the following summer to play for Newcastle United.
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Owen left Newcastle in the summer of 2009 on a free transfer to Manchester United, with whom he won the Premier League title and the League Cup across three seasons at Old Trafford.
He ended his playing career with a spell at Stoke City at the conclusion of the 2012/13 season.
Though Owen had a successful club career with several trophies won, he was part of a generation at international level which was unable to convert its considerable talent into silverware.
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The striker is a member of the so-called 'Golden Generation' with England - where he sits sixth in the nation's all-time goalscoring charts - which had several world class stars in several areas of the pitch.
This included the likes of David Beckham, Ashley Cole, Gary Neville, Wayne Rooney, John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Sol Campbell, Paul Scholes, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard.
At Euro 2004 where England exited at the quarter-final stage on penalties following a 2-2 draw with hosts Portugal, many members of that squad have subsequently made it clear they felt that was a tournament the Three Lions could have won.
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That proved to be the last tournament where the trio of Scholes, Lampard and Gerrard were available for selection for England as Manchester United legend Scholes announced his retirement from international football shortly afterwards.
At Euro 2004, Scholes was played out on the left wing, with Lampard and Gerrard in central midfield and Beckham on the right.
And speaking to fellow former England and United teammate Ferdinand on his podcast Rio Ferdinand Presents, Owen believes that had the central midfield trio of Scholes, Gerrard and Lampard played together more frequently in the middle of the park, the Three Lions could have won the nation's second World Cup.
"Well they all offer something different and I just wish we had played them all three of them in midfield," said Owen, suggesting England could have gone on to glory in 2006 had Scholes not retired with just 66 caps.
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"I genuinely think we would have won a World Cup."