Owen is moved to head of the class

As a youngster in Sweden, Sven-Goran Eriksson was a keen ski-jumper. "It was great fun," he said yesterday, "but I was not brave enough to be very good".

Nevertheless, he is bold enough to take a leap into the unknown for tonight's World Cup warm-up against Paraguay, plucking Michael Owen off the junior slopes, age-wise if not football-wise, to make him the youngest England captain since Bobby Moore.

Moore led England for the first time, against Czechoslovakia in Bratislava in May 1963, at 22 years 47 days. Owen will be 77 days older when he leads out Eriksson's team on his home ground at Anfield this evening.

Owen gets this unexpected, some might say unfathomable, chance to show his qualities of leadership because David Beckham is out of England's World Cup preparations with a broken foot.

And though Eriksson stressed that Owen was not yet being lined up as an alternative captain for Japan, the fact that he has been given the armband at all will add his name to the list of candidates.

"In the present squad, we have David Seaman, Gareth Southgate and Gary Neville who might also have been captain," said Eriksson. "Michael Owen could be one for the future.

"But this decision is only for this match. If David Beckham is not back for the World Cup we'll have to look at the situation then. For the moment, I prefer not to talk in terms of Beckham not being fit. I'm assuming he will be able to play in our opening game against Sweden."

Nevertheless, the possibility of Owen wearing the armband when it really matters should not be ruled out, especially if his captaincy impresses Eriksson tonight. Clearly, the England coach has spotted something in the young striker's make-up which puts him up for promotion.

"He's a clean-cut, talented young player who, barring injury, will be in the England team for many, many years," Eriksson enthused. "Already, he's a great footballer. I don't yet know whether he can be a great leader. That's up to him."

Despite his youth, Owen is already an experienced England international with 33 caps and 14 goals. He was only 18, remember, when he burst on to the global stage with that outstanding piece of individualism to score against Argentina in the 1998 World Cup.

And, even then, in spite of the occasional impetuous tackle on the pitch, he was conducting himself off it with a maturity well beyond his years.

"He has a lot of qualities to be a good captain," Eriksson observed. "He is a good picture, a good window - what do you say? - a good ambassador. I'm not a moralist. I'm not saying that you have to go to church on Sunday mornings to be captain of England, certainly not. But if there has to be an ambassador for football, why not Owen?"

Why not indeed, although far from ending the speculation about a likely alternative to Beckham as World Cup captain, the choice of Owen for the Paraguay game will intensify it.

It is possible Eriksson intended giving Sol Campbell the armband until the Arsenal centre back tore a hamstring on Sunday.

Rio Ferdinand, another absentee tonight, has also been mentioned although at the moment being captain of Leeds United is rather like skippering a pirate ship.

Gary Neville was the strongest bet among the critics both because of his seniority and the fact that he is more likely than Southgate to be a regular choice in the World Cup.

Eriksson may have had another motive in making Owen captain for the last home friendly before they leave for the Far East, by which time he will have announced his squad.

He wants to see more commitment tonight than some of his players showed in losing 2-1 to Italy three weeks ago and perhaps feels that, with Owen leading the team as well as the attack, the missing spark will return.

ENGLAND (possible, 4-4-2): Seaman (Arsenal); G Neville (Man U), Keown (Arsenal), Southgate (M'boro), Bridge (Soton); Hargreaves (B Munich), Gerrard (Liverpool), Scholes (Man U), Dyer (Newcastle); Owen (Liverpool), Fowler (Leeds).

PARAGUAY (4-4-2; probable): Tavarelli (Olimpia); Arce (Palmeiras, Br), Ayala (River Plate, Arg), Gamarra (AEK Athens), Caniza (Santos Laguna, Mex); Struway (Libertad), Gavilan (Newcastle Utd), Paredes (Porto), Bonet (Libertad); Santa Cruz (Bayern Munich), Cardozo (Toluca, Mex).