Owen set to captain England B against Belarus B

London, May 23: Michael Owen has played only 29 minutes of football since fracturing his metatarsal bone but England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson believes that the striker is ''super fit'' and is planning to make him the captain for their match against Belarus B on Thursday.

''He's super-fit. Owen is physically fantastic. You can see how hungry he is to play football,'' Eriksson was quoted as saying in the ''Daily Telegraph''.

Eriksson revealed regular captain David Beckham, mid-fielders Steven Gerrard and Gary Neville and defenders Frank Lampard and John Terry would be rested alongwith first choice goalkeeper Paul Robinson, who would be replaced by David James.

''Probably we'll play Crouch and Owen up front for this game. Owen needs games. I'm not worried. What I saw last week, I'm very, very happy. He trained excellently. He was on fire,'' he said.

The England coach said he was confident about Owen's fitness and the striker was in much better shape compared to the last two world cups.

''I guess when he got the injury his mind was always on the World Cup. He was afraid of not playing in the World Cup. I saw a happy face last week. He's better today than he was in his first or second World Cup,'' the England coach added.

Sol Campbell and Ashley Cole would marshall the England defence and the 17-year-old Michael Dawson and Jamie Carragher would take charge in the mid-field.

Eriksson said Theo Walcott might also ''come on during the game''

UNI