Date of birth: 14/12/1979
Birthplace: Chester, Wales
Position: Striker
Height: 1.76 Meters
Weight: 70 kg
LFC-Debut: 7/5-1997 against Wimbledon (1 goal)
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Date of birth: 14/12/1979 Birthplace: Chester, Wales Position: Striker Height: 1.76 Meters Weight: 70 kg LFC-Debut: 7/5-1997 against Wimbledon (1 goal) |
Participated in the World Youth Championship in Malaysia in 1997.
Voted Young Player of the Year in 1997/98.
Made his England debut against Chile in 1998, beeing voted Man of the Match.
Top goalscorer in the Premiership in 1997/98 (shared with Dublin/Sutton).
Voted Carling Player of the Year 1997/98.
1998:
Chile (H) 0-2 FRIENDLY
Switzerland (H) 1-1 FRIENDLY
Portugal (H) 3-0 FRIENDLY
Morocco (A) 1-0 KING HASSAN II TOURNAMENT (1 GOAL)
Belgium (N) 0-0 KING HASSAN II TOURNAMENT
Tunisia (N) 2-0 WORLD CUP
Romania (N) 1-2 WORLD CUP (1 GOAL)
Colombia (N) 2-0 WORLD CUP
Argentina (N) 2-2 WORLD CUP (1 GOAL)
by Richard Tanner of the "Sporting Life"
Michael Owen was only five when dad Terry began to realise he had fathered a natural-born goal-scorer.
A kids activity club at a local leisure centre was the unlikely venue for Owen jnr. to first show the skills that have marked him down as the finest young footballer of his generation.
As an ex-pro with Everton, Bradford City and Chester, Terry knew that his son had a gift for goals.
He said: "When he was five or six we used to take him along to the mini club, a kind of kid fun session at the Deeside Leisure Centre.
"There were all sorts of activities going on, trampolining, table-tennis, but all he was interested in was the football games. And his co-ordination and eye for a ball was quite exceptional for a five-year-old.
"Most lads of that age just toe punting the ball but Michael was a natural - he was tucking shots into the corner of the net with the side of his foot.
"You would have thought he was three or four years older than he was. It was remarkable."
But then Owen was always a boy ahead of his time and tonight he will be the youngest player on the pitch by at least three years when Liverpool resume their Battle of Britain epic with Celtic at Anfield.
At eight, Owen was selected for the Deeside Area Primary School's Under-11 team. At nine he was captain. And at ten he smashed Ian Rush's 20-year record for the same team but hitting a staggering 92 in a single season.
Rushie, managed a mere 72 - before going on to become a Liverpool legend.
Owen seems destined to steal all of Rush's records after an explosive entrance on to the Premiership stage.
And it has helped that Terry spent 13 years in the professional game before moving into non-league football.
Now 48 and a talent scout for Liverpool, Terry said: "I was a winger-cum-striker and I was pretty quick. Michael's inherited that from me but apart from that he's in a different class.
"His pace off the mark is his greatest strength - I can't think of a quicker player around over the first 10 yards. And he's quick inside his head."
Apart from his footballing skills, Owen's meteoric rise has been helped by an almost nerveless temperament.
He scored just minutes after coming on for his debut as Liverpool strove desperately to keep their title hopes alive at Wimbledon last May; he volunteered to take the penalty on the opening day of this season when the Merseysiders trailed 1-0 to the Dons - and he scored within five minutes of making his European debut in front of the biggest crowd he has ever played in front of at Parkhead a fortnight ago.
There is already talk that Glenn Hoddle will include him in his England squad later in the season.
Owen was expected to play second fiddle to Robbie Fowler and Karl-Heinz Riedle this season but he did so well during Fowler's injury enforced absence at the start of the season.
But it's German superstar Riedle, who has seen it all and done it all, whose been left on the bench.