Redworth, June 11: Michael Owen, who in 1998 became the youngest Englishman to play for his country, will celebrate his 50th appearance when he captains England for their Euro 2004 qualifying match against Slovakia at Middlesbrough on Wednesday (June 11). With England's regular captain David Beckham missing because of suspension, 23-year-old Owen takes charge as England aim to overtake Turkey at the top of Group Seven. Owen, scorer of 20 goals for England, is proud of his achievement and the fact that he has reached such a milestone at such a young age. "Well, it will mean a great deal," he said. "Obviously, making your 50th cap, there's only a couple in the squad that have made 50 caps and not that many in their careers, so it's certainly a nice achievement and to be captain as well for the night should round it off." Owen made his debut in a 2-0 defeat against Chile in 1998 at the age of 18 years and 59 days, making him the youngest player at that time to represent England.


"I still remember the day I got called up to actually be in the full squad," he said. "I made my debut against Chile and I remember everything that surrounded it. The result wasn't the greatest (lost 2-0) but certainly it was great learning curve for meand it stood me in good stead for the rest of my international career."


With 12 points to England's 10, the Turks are hoping for another England slip-up in a laboured qualifying campaign for Sven-Goran Eriksson's side.


Last October's scrappy 2-1 victory in a quagmire in Bratislava was followed by an embarrassing 2-2 draw at home to Macedonia and only a 2-0 win in Liechtenstein.


England can ill-afford another draw, as it would almost certainly mean having to beat Turkey in October's final match to qualify automatically, but Owen is confident that England will be able to produce a positive result on Wednesday.


"There's nothing quite like a proper international that's got something at stake," said Owen. "If you look at the manager's record, if you look at the team's record, we've only been beaten by Brazil since the manager's took over. We've got beaten by Australia at home, and then we go and put in a great display against Turkey. I mean, I don't think it just happens by chance, I think there's something in it, whether it's something inside you that's gripping you in those big games or whatever it is, there's certainly something inside you that really pulls out that extra effort when it comes to the big game."


Probable teams: England: David James; Danny Mills, Gareth Southgate, Matthew Upson, Ashley Cole; Steven Gerrard, Phil Neville, Paul Scholes, Frank Lampard; Wayne Rooney, Michael Owen. Slovakia: Miroslav Konig, Martin Petras, Marian Zeman, Vladimir Labant, Michal Hanek, Miroslav Karhan, Igor Demo, Rastislav Michalik, Vladimir Janocko, Robert Vittek, Szilard Nemeth


Bureau Report