No place for Owen in England picture

TEAMtalk feels Michael Owen's hopes of becoming England's all-time leading goalscorer look increasingly tough following the 2-1 win in Germany.

The England door is not closed for Michael Owen.

We know that because manager Fabio Capello keeps telling us.

Yet in reality there are two chances of the most prolific England striker of his generation adding to the 40 goals he has scored for his country. Fat and slim. And slim, as boxing promoter Don King might say, just left town.

Got on a horse and galloped into the sunset, in fact, the moment an England second-string defeated Germany 2-1 in Berlin with a performance which confirmed the confidence Capello has brought to the national side.

Before we go on we should recognise the need for a sense of perspective. After all seven years ago Owen scored a hat-trick in England's 5-1 victory against Germany in Munich only for the Germans to go on to reach the World Cup final while England checked out as usual in the quarters.

Owen, as a man with a generous nature, will have cheered on the display of Capello's understudies as he watched the Berlin drama unfold from his armchair, but his heart must have sunk.

On show was the future which has left him behind.

On show was eveything Capello has brought to the England job since his appointment. Organisation, conviction, an investment in youth and pace, high tempo, a willingness to close down the opposition and shed bucketloads of sweat in the national cause.

Most of all, England had what 'Strictly Come Dancing' retiree John Sergeant never quite mastered: Balance.

"I think it is impossible to be better than this," Capello said. "The players played very well. They played like a team. That was very important."

That 'Team' message has been a recurring theme during Capello's brief reign, which so far has delivered seven wins, a draw and just one defeat against France in Paris last March.

The onus on togetherness might seem simple and obvious in a team sport, but so often it is the quality which separates the ego-massager from the manager who is not in thrall to reputations and celebrity.

Capello, I'm sure, has nothing against Owen, apart from the fact that he is rarely fully fit, has lost a couple of yards of pace, has taken a couple of dodgy career turns and has never been adept at keeping possession.

In the same way he has nothing against David Beckham, who rightly was denied his 108th cap to equal Bobby Moore's record as an outfield player because his Amercian season had shut down and he had not played for three weeks.

In football terms that absence of sentiment is Capello's most powerful characteristic and why the men who missed what turned into something of a ball in Berlin should be worried. Very worried.

There is an alternative to Wayne Rooney and Emile Heskey. It involves the raw pace of players such as Gabriel Agbonlahor and Shaun Wright-Phillips.

There is an alternative to Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard after all these underachieving years. It just might be the partnership of Michael Carrick and Gareth Barry, players who lack the surging power of their more famous team-mates but whose passing was precise and decidedly more creative.

The point is Capello has brought intense competition for places to a side which for too long operated in the 'same-again' comfort zones of Sven-Goran Eriksson and Steve McClaren.

I make no apologies for dwelling on the subject of Owen because in so many ways his marginalisation, and that of Beckham too, is the measure of Capello's success.

The door is not closed is the official line. And I believe Capello, but only if Owen, 29 next month, comes up with a string of matches and a glut of goals. It is not going to happen. Not on Tyneside.

The harsh international reality for a once-talismanic striker is that after Berlin, Owen has become irrelevant.