Michael Owen reveals he RESENTS two former England team-mates and wonders ‘how we never won something’
He did not hold back when reflecting on his international career with the Three Lions
MICHAEL OWEN has revealed he “resents” two of his former England team-mates.
The former Three Lions striker admits he still wonders how the golden generation failed to win anything.
Owen played at three World Cups but never progressed beyond the quarter-finals.
The 43-year-old also featured at the Euros in both 2000 and 2004 without lifting the trophy.
He became England’s youngest World Cup goalscorer at the 1998 tournament in France.
However, the campaign would end with a penalty shootout defeat to Argentina in the last 16.
Owen has now revealed he still has a grudge over team-mates Paul Ince and David Beckham, who was sent off for a kick on Diego Simeone.
Meanwhile, Ince missed his spot-kick in the 4-3 loss on penalties.
Speaking on , Owen explained: “Firstly, I don’t believe David Beckham’s kick out at Diego Simeone should’ve been a red card, but that is irrelevant. He made a mistake and that is where my resentment lies.
“For a lot of players you only get one shot at a World Cup, and he made a big mistake – he would admit that. You could say that it contributed to us being knocked out and that is a big thing.
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“You can resent a lot of things if you use that word, and I do resent a lot of things.
“Paul Ince missed a penalty and I resent him choosing to shoot the ball one way instead of the other, in the same way I resent Beckham making the decision to kick out at Simeone.
“I resent his actions for all manner of reasons. It was a mistake that only he made and it makes you think that if he hadn’t done it, we could have beaten Argentina.
“I’m absolutely convinced that we would’ve beaten them with 11 men because we were the better team. We had an unbelievable team so of course I think to myself what could have been.
“England have a history of self-imploding. You have the Beckham red card and then you have the situation where Wayne Rooney stamped on Ricardo Carvalho.
“It makes you think that a lot of times when we have gone out of tournaments, it’s not actually always for footballing reasons. We almost shoot ourselves in the foot.
“I regularly go to bed wondering how we never won something with England, given the quality of some of the teams that we had.”
Owen later suffered quarter-final losses at the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, scoring four times across his 12 appearances at the tournament.
By the time he retired, the forward had scored 40 goals in 89 caps for his country.
Meanwhile, France 1998 would prove to be Ince’s only crack at the World Cup.
However, Beckham would avenge his red card by scoring the winner against Argentina at the 2002 World Cup.