At 9.34pm on Tuesday December 8th, a BBC Radio 5 Live’s analyst said that if Michael Owen continued the form that had just got him a Champions League hat-trick England manager Fabio Capello would have to consider him for the World Cup.   By the time Wednesday December 9th’s papers went to press – only hours later – all the “ifs” had vanished.   The Sun had “little doubt” that Owen was on his way and, having offered the helpful hint, asked its readers “Should Fabio Capello include Michael Owen in his World Cup squad?” as if one hat-trick was all the evidence Capello needed to make the decision.

The Star had it down as a “timely” hint to Capello, which introduced a new concept of time to the debate. Owen “fired himself spectacularly into the World Cup reckoning” in the Mail while the general consensus in the other tabloids was that Owen had given his World Cup hopes something huge - a “lift”, or a “boost.”

There is a sense that many football people are willing Owen to return to both form and England squad – although this feeling isn’t over-prevalent on Merseyside.

Owen’s finishing so far this season has sometimes been awful – the air-shot in Moscow, the corner-flag bound header which was deflected into the net against Bolton and any number of one-on-ones.

 

Often his contributions could have been documented in invisible ink – like the first 43 minutes against Wolfsburg. And when he went off injured in the corresponding fixture at Old Trafford, United visibly improved.   But every glimmer of the old Owen, such as his goal at Barnsley, is seized upon with unrestrained glee by pundits. Hence Owen’s hat-trick this week got banner headlines beyond Darren Bent’s powers.   Of course, the papers will soon say that one December hat-trick in itself won’t get Owen to South Africa, that he will have to continue that form until the season’s end. And then we can start talking about what Owen might do to a tiring American/Algerian/Slovenian defence next summer.

Exactly what was said on BBC Radio 5 Live, at 9.34pm on Tuesday December 8^th.