Owen: Majority of players could stay on feet

Michael Owen has admitted he was “guilty” of going down for both his World Cup penalties against Argentina when he could have stayed on his feet.

The 32-year-old striker won penalties for England at the 1998 and 2002 tournaments.

Owen insisted he had not dived because there was contact in both cases but said he could have stayed on his feet.

He made his admission at the Leaders in Football conference on the same panel in front of Pierluigi Collina — Uefa’s head of refereeing and the official who awarded the 2002 penalty.

Owen is now at Stoke, whose manager Tony Pulis this week called for a three-match ban for simulation after a dive by Liverpool’s Luis Suarez, but he would not repeat that call.

He said: “I’d say 75% of people could stay on their feet for a penalty, and if they get touched and go down it is almost, ‘They got touched so it’s okay to go down’.

“I have been guilty as well, I played at the 1998 World Cup against Argentina and I was running flat out, got a nudge, went down. Could I have stayed up? Yes, probably.

“Then four years later you [Collina] gave me a penalty again against Argentina. Again, I could have stayed on my feet, the defender’s caught me and I did have a decent gash down my shin from it but I could have stayed up.”

England lost the game in 1998 but David Beckham scored the penalty Owen won in 2002 as they beat Argentina 1-0.