Nail-biting time for Owen

Some things are inevitable. A car washed under cloudless skies guarantees rain within the hour; buying a ticket when a train is due ensures waiting behind someone wanting a Silver Saver to Khartoum; and, when England are 72 hours away from a World Cup quarter-final with Brazil, Michael Owen will have a groin strain.

Owen was taken off at half-time against Denmark on Saturday after feeling something click in that part of the body which has brought him frequent injury problems ever since he burst on to the global stage in the last World Cup four years ago.

When the next game was six days distant England were not overly concerned and Sven-Goran Eriksson said that, had Owen been playing in the final, he might have stayed on the pitch longer than he did in Niigata.

That was then; by yesterday the situation had become rather more critical. Owen cancelled all public engagements, including a press conference, in order to have intensive treatment.

The official view is that England hope Owen will be fit in time to face the Brazilians in Shizuoka on Friday, which says little about his actual chance of playing. Tord Grip, Eriksson's assistant, dutifully followed this optimistic line while adding the caveat that "he needs to be 100 per cent fit; everyone needs to be 100 per cent fit to play Brazil".

England travel to Shizuoka today and Grip reckons that Owen, to have a chance of playing, will have to be able to resume training tomorrow evening. "You must wait and see how a player is in training because only then will you know if he's OK to play," Grip explained.

The prospect of losing Owen for England's biggest World Cup match since the 1990 semi-final against West Germany hardly bears thinking about. "It will be a big blow for us if he can't play," Grip admitted, "and it will be a big blow for him. Playing against Brazil in a World Cup is something every player is looking forward to."

While Grip did his best to be positive, reminding everyone of the success England have achieved so far despite losing Steven Gerrard and Gary Neville, facing Brazil without Owen would certainly be good news for the Brazilians, for whom Ronaldo and Rivaldo have together scored nine times.

Owen may have scored only once in this World Cup, but his presence alone played on the nerves of Argentina's defenders and held their attacking inclinations in check.

In a similar way the Brazilian centre-backs Roque Junior and Edmilson would think twice about moving upfield as they frequently did against Belgium on Monday if they were in danger of being caught out by Owen's speed.

Nicky Butt may have done an admirable job replacing Gerrard as Owen's main provider but take away the main recipient and Eriksson's attack will drop a couple of gears.

Without Owen the England coach would have to choose between Robbie Fowler, a natural scorer but looking heavy-footed, Darius Vassell, who missed training yesterday with a sore back, or maybe Kieron Dyer, who has Owen's pace and played up front alongside Emile Heskey for most of the second half against the Danes after coming on for Paul Scholes.

Scholes, who twisted an ankle in that match, was another absentee because of a sore foot. The maintenance of his central midfield partnership with Butt will be as fundamental in disrupting Brazil's beguiling football rhythms as it was in disturbing the more staccato style of Argentina.

"I think Brazil are a lot slower in their build-up than Argentina," said Butt, one of the England players who watched them beat Belgium 2-0 on Monday.

"They passed the ball around slowly; then they're very explosive.

"Argentina moved the ball forward a lot more. They will keep possession to try and draw us out, hoping to get in behind us with their pace up front.

"We know what we're up against. Watching them last night we all knew they were a very good team but felt we could compete with them."

England are now using Butt in a manner comparable to the way the 1994 Brazilians played Dunga when they won their fourth World Cup. The Manchester United man would be the first to admit that he is no Dunga, but his unflappable efficiency has restored stability to a midfield which against Sweden began to fall apart in the old manner after half-time.

"It's a matter of keeping everything simple," Butt explained. "I'm not a player who can hit balls like Becks, so I always play simple passes and hope they will be effective" - effective certainly to the point of sending Owen in to hit a post against Argentina and score England's second goal against Denmark.

Belgium made enough chances against Brazil to convince England that they can score against them on Friday. As Grip pointed out: "They attack with two wingmen and one of the centre-backs as well. So they leave a lot of space and, if we defend well, we can move forward to use this."

Speaking as a defender, Sol Campbell noted that, although Brazil's centre-backs were in the habit of moving upfield, they always managed to get plenty of players behind the ball when needed. This is true, although there was a period on Monday when only the goalkeeping of Marcos and Belgian profligacy were keeping Brazil in the game.

Marcos yesterday claimed England were only as good as Brazil's substitutes. "I believe Owen is an excellent player, and Beckham shoots really well. But we face here our substitutes every day, and they're as good as the English players," he argued.