England fear the worst for Owen

Michael Owen is expected to be ruled out of the rest of the World Cup after undergoing a scan on his injured right knee today.

Owen flew back with the team to their Baden-Baden base last night after being taken off on a stretcher in the first minute of last night’s 2-2 draw against Sweden.

The fear is that it is serious ligament damage which would almost certainly mean Owen, who missed the second half of last season with a metatarsal injury, returning to England for treatment.

Sven-Goran Eriksson, who gambled on taking just four strikers to Germany, was pessimistic about Owen playing any further part in England’s challenge.

“It doesn’t look very good for him and for us,” he said. “How much time it will take we don’t know.

“I think it’s a bad one. We’ll have to see what the doctors say.”

Joe Cole admitted England’s World Cup hopes will be dented if the Newcastle forward has kicked his last ball in Germany.

Cole said: “It’s a big blow for us and the team.

“He’s had a difficult 12 months with injury and now he’s got a battle on his hands.

“Our thoughts are with him and his family. I hope he’ll be back scoring goals for England soon.”

Eriksson, however, insisted that England had the striking power to cope without Owen. The Swede has Peter Crouch and the untried Theo Walcott available, as well as Wayne Rooney who is yet to play a full 90 minutes since breaking a metatarsal in April.

He said: “I’m sorry about Owen. But we have Walcott. And (Steven) Gerrard and Joe Cole scored fantastic goals.”

Eriksson is far more hopeful that Rio Ferdinand will recover in time for Sunday’s knockout match against Ecuador in Stuttgart. The Manchester United defender left the field after 56 minutes with a groin problem.

Ferdinand will have treatment today and is not expected to train for a couple of days at least.

A match of high drama also saw Rooney substituted after 69 minutes, after which he punched the roof of the dug-out, kicked a water bottle and threw his boots to the ground in frustration.

Eriksson said: “I asked him why he did it and he said he was disappointed with himself because he thought he should have played better in the second half. It’s not a problem at all.

“Rooney could have played longer but it was his first game from the start and I couldn’t risk overworking him. He will be better and better.”

Eriksson will also have to turn his mind in the next few days to how England defend at set-pieces after they conceded a header from Marcus Allback from a corner and allowed Sweden to hit the woodwork twice in a frantic second half.

Cole, who won the man-of-the-match award, insisted the defenders would respond.

He said: “We are confident in our defenders and I’m sure that will be the last time we concede a goal from a set-piece.”

He then looked forward to Sunday’s match against Ecuador, saying: “It’s going to be a tough game.

“They finished third in South American qualifying and have had two great performances. It’s knockout, the business starts now and we can’t afford to make any mistakes from set-pieces.”