No return to England squad for Owen

Michael Owen has missed out on an England recall today.

Although Owen has not featured for his country since the friendly defeat in France nearly 18 months ago, it was thought his surprise summer switch to Manchester United might prompt a return to international duty.

However, after watching England’s fourth highest goalscorer in action at Old Trafford on Wednesday night, when Owen drew a blank in United’s 2-0 win over Valencia, Fabio Capello has left him out of his squad to face the Netherlands in Amsterdam on Wednesday.

Instead, Owen’s Red Devils team-mate Wayne Rooney is joined by Emile Heskey, Jermain Defoe and Carlton Cole to form a four-man English strikeforce.

That means there is also no place for Peter Crouch, even though the Tottenham new boy was part of the England side that overwhelmed Andorra on their last outing at Wembley.

The other surprise absentee is David James.

James has been regarded as Capello’s first-choice goalkeeper and was expected to return after missing the World Cup wins against Kazakhstan and Andorra after undergoing shoulder surgery.

However, even though James was part of the Portsmouth side that tackled Rangers this afternoon, he is missing from Capello’s squad even though Ben Foster, who also sat out the June double-header because of a thumb operation, is in, along with Robert Green and Paul Robinson.

David Beckham will make the flight back from Los Angeles in order to take part, while James Milner gets a place in the senior ranks, although he seems unlikely to start in the Amsterdam Arena.