McClaren struggles for strikers
Heskey and Owen combined well against Israel and Russia
Also In The News
|
When the first 200,000 Zimbabwe dollar banknote was released earlier this summer, it was a stark reflection of how far the economy of this southern African nation has fallen. |  |
Wednesday, 26, Sep 2007 11:55
Steve McClaren is facing a fresh crisis this morning with his attacking options for next month's crucial Euro 2008 qualifiers looking severely limited.
The England boss was told last night that Michael Owen, who scored three goals in the back-to-back victories over Israel and Russia, will be out for up to six weeks.
McClaren is already without Emile Heskey, who made an impressive return to international football alongside Owen this month only to break a bone in his foot playing for Wigan three days later.
England play Estonia at home on October 13th followed by a trip to Moscow to face Russia on October 17th.
With Owen missing both games, McClaren must look elsewhere for a proven goalscorer.
Only Liverpool's Peter Crouch has scored regularly for his country, bagging 12 goals in 21 appearances, but he has started just one league game this season.
Manchester United's Wayne Rooney, while he is now certain to start, has only recently returned from injury and has not scored a competitive goal for England in more than two years.
McClaren's other options include Tottenham pair Darren Bent and Jermain Defoe. Bent has just two England caps to his name and has been out with a knee problem and Defoe has not started a game for Spurs this season.
Andrew Johnson, meanwhile, has not scored for Everton for 14 games and missed two penalties against Ukrainian side Metalist in the Uefa Cup last week.
Alan Smith of Newcastle is an option, but he was unconvincing against Brazil in the recent friendly and has been playing in midfield for his club.
With the situation looking increasingly desperate, there has been speculation this week that McClaren could call-up West Ham's Dean Ashton.
The big striker broke his ankle ahead of what would have been his first start for England last summer and has only just returned to first team action.
Alan Curbishley, West Ham's manager, warned that Ashton, despite scoring twice in the last two games, was still finding his feet after a long layoff.