Michael Owen will make his international comeback for England in tomorrow's B international against Albania with Stewart Downing (who is expected to partner the Toon striker) confident Newcastle's £17m striker will soon be back for his best for both club and country.Downing: "It has been an absolute nightmare for Michael.
"But he's someone that both Newcastle and England need. He's like Viduka is with us at Middlesbrough, he guarantees goals and we need him playing for England. Ideally, I will be out there on the left providing Michael with the crosses for him to score."
Meanwhile ... Steve McClaren is reportedly considering an international recall for David Beckham.
One of McClaren's first acts as England boss when he took over last summer was to drop the former captain from his squad, but he is now understood to be seriously considering picking Beckham for the upcoming games against Brazil and Estonia.
Beckham has not played for England since the World Cup quarter-final loss to Portugal last summer, and his international career looked to be over after he was omitted from McClaren's first squad.
According to The Times, McClaren has been impressed with Beckham's displays for Real Madrid this season, despite the midfielder having only played a handful of games in recent weeks.
Beckham performed well in Madrid's 3-2 victory over Recreativo on Sunday night, setting up one goal and was involved in the build up to Roberto Carlos' late winner.
The Times reports that McClaren was considering picking Beckham for the Euro 2008 qualifiers against Israel and Andorra in March, but injury ruled him out of those games.
A recall would represent a remarkable double turnaround for Beckham, who was also told earlier in the season that he would never play for Real again by coach Fabio Capello after his move to LA Galaxy was announced.
However, the former Manchester United man's form and attitude won his place in Capello's team back, and the same attributes could be enough for the England side too.