Here's something not quite related to this forum.
Owen injury nightmare rocks club and country
MICHAEL OWEN is expected to miss the whole of next season after a
setback in his recovery from the knee injury he sustained at the
World Cup finals. The Newcastle United striker had hoped to return
early next year, but he will now be out for at least ten
months.
It is a huge blow to the forward, to England and to his club, who
paid a club-record fee of £16 million to sign him from Real Madrid
last summer. He made only 11 appearances last season after
fracturing his metatarsal and is unlikely to play at all in the
forthcoming campaign after the main operation to repair his right
knee was delayed by eight weeks.
Glenn Roeder, the Newcastle manager, has been left badly short of
strikers and Steve McClaren will have to plan without Englands
pre-eminent goalscorer. The new head coach is also awaiting Fifas
verdict on Wayne Rooneys suspension, with the world governing body
due to announce by Sunday how many matches Rooney will miss at the
start of the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign.
Rooney has protested that he did not intend to stamp on Ricardo
Carvalho during Englands defeat by Portugal in the World Cup
quarter-final, but Fifas view of that incident was made abundantly
clear yesterday when Horacio Elizondo, the Argentine referee who
sent off Rooney, was given the honour of officiating at Sundays
final between Italy and France in Berlin.
Markus Merk, the German, and Lubos Michel, of Slovakia, had been
favourites, but Elizondos handling of the England game clearly
impressed Fifa. His decision to dismiss Rooney has been publicly
backed by Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president, and the forward faces a
ban of two or three matches.
At least Rooney will be back in England colours a long time before
Owen. He flew to Denver on Monday to see Dr Richard Steadman, the
surgeon who has operated on the knees of top sportsmen across many
fields, including Ronaldo, Greg Norman and Joe Montana. Owen was
expected to undergo an operation to repair the right anterior
cruciate ligament, which ruptured less than a minute into Englands
2-2 draw against Sweden, but surgery on Wednesday revealed damage
to the lateral cartilages.
With work on those required to be carried out first, the cruciate
operation will be delayed for two months. Owen, 26, will return to
Newcastle next week to continue his rehabilitation and will have to
return to the US for more surgery at the start of August.
Newcastles season kicks off with an Intertoto Cup tie in just
eight days time and Roeder will not be spoilt for choice of
strikers after Alan Shearers retirement and Owens injury. Unless
he can make a quick purchase he has only Albert Luque, James Milner
and a semi-fit Shola Ameobi at his disposal.
Interest in Dirk Kuyt, of Feyenoord, is thought to have cooled,
while Newcastle have been warned off an approach for Darren Bent,
of Charlton Athletic. Ruud van Nistelrooy, unsettled at Old
Trafford, and Jermain Defoe, who is not guaranteed a starting place
at Tottenham Hotspur, are targets, but Roeder does not have a
sufficient budget.
Upset at losing his most precious asset to an injury sustained on
international duty, Freddy Shepherd, the Newcastle chairman, had
already instructed the clubs lawyers to investigate the matter of
compensation. Owen earns in excess of £100,000 a week and the
Football Associations insurance policy covers only a proportion of
the players wages.
The club, who made their own additional insurance arrangements, are
examining their legal position, but Fifa has indicated that its £6
million compensation fund is intended to provide for players whose
associations or clubs have not taken out a policy.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,174-2259837,00.html