Owen Out Of Croatia Clash

Michael Owen will miss England's potentially decisive final Euro 2008 qualifier against Croatia on Wednesday after limping out of a 1-0 friendly win over Austria here.

A Peter Crouch header just before half-time ensured a subdued display by Steve McClaren's side ended in a victory marred by the gravity of the thigh injury which forced Owen off after half an hour."

Michael won't be fit for Wednesday, he has pulled his thigh" McClaren confirmed. The early prognosis was that the Newcastle striker could be out for as much as a month.As result England will go into the Croatia game -- which may be meaningless in any case -- without four first-choice players.

Wayne Rooney and captain John Terry are both injured while Rio Ferdinand is suspended."That is football but we seem to be plagued by injuries at the moment," McClaren complained. "We will be going into what could biggest game for England for a long while without two centre halves and two centre forwards we would pick. But I still believe that, if we have to beat Croatia, we have enough courage to win it and we will do it."

Austria coach Josef Hickersberger admitted he would be keeping his fingers crossed that results go England's way, in the interests of Euro 2008 as a tournament."I hope for England and for (joint hosts) Austria and Switzerland that England will be playing a real match against Croatia next Wednesday, not just trying to get some reputation back."

We would really like to welcome England to Austria next year."A friendly in the stadium that will host the final of Euro 2008 was never likely to offer balm for the wounds of a squad whose own hopes of reaching next year's tournament could be extinguished by Saturday evening.

If Russia win in Israel and Croatia manage to get a point in Macedonia, the Croatians visit to Wembley will be rendered as irrelevant as this encounter was always likely to be. On a freezing night in the Austrian capital, there were individual landmarks in the form of a clean sheet on his international debut for goalkeeper Scott Carson, a 98th (and possibly final) cap for David Beckham and Frank Lampard's restoration to the starting line-up.

Collectively, though, there was little McClaren's men could achieve beyond adding to the general astonishment over the position they find themselves in and perhaps bolstering their beleaguered manager's chances of survival a little.

Against a team of Austria's modest quality, meeting those limited objectives necessitated more than England threatened to deliver in an insipid opening half hour in which the nearest they came to hitting the target was when a drive from Lampard thumped painfully into the groin of unfortunate centreback Franz Schiemer.

A collision with Crouch resulted in Austria's goalkeeper, Jurgen Macho, departing on a stretcher, ensuring it was Alex Manninger who was called into action when England finally managed to muster a shot on goal. Teed-up by Crouch's deft flick, Owen struck powerfully but straight at the substitute goalkeeper, who acrobatically tipped the ball over the crossbar.

The failure to convert such a clear-cut chance will have hurt Owen's pride and the effort also appeared to have been the cause of the pain in his thigh which resulted in England's most reliable source of goals heading for the dressing room immediately afterwards.

Manninger did well again to thwart Joe Cole with a brave dive at the feet of the Chelsea midfielder two minutes before the break. Crouch's attempt to convert the loose ball was blocked by Rene Aufhauser but the striker was to make a better job of finishing off Beckham's delivery from the resulting corner.

Having climbed high above his marker, Martin Stranzl, Crouch claimed his 13th goal in 24 England appearances with a textbook downward header but it would never have found the net had Austria taken the elementary precaution of positioning a man on the back post.

Steven Gerrard, Sol Campbell and Joe Cole were all withdrawn at half-time, the latter's departure allowing Ashley Young to make his England debut. The Aston Villa midfielder's first significant contribution to international football was to curl a cross on to the head of Crouch, who forced Manninger into another smart save.

Moments earlier, Danish referee Nicolai Vollquartz had waved away Austria's appeals for a penalty over an apparent tug by Wes Brown on their captain Andreas Ivanschitz as he attempted to get on the end of a cross from the right.

That was to be the closest the hosts came to an equaliser but the injury to Owen ensured England finished the night as the bigger losers.