Ferdinand sees echoes of Owen in Walcott
Chris HATHERALL
Theo Walcott has been giving his England team-mate Rio Ferdinand a
sense of deja-vu ahead of Saturday's World Cup qualifier against
Kazakhstan and the Manchester United defender has only just worked out
why.
Walcott has an inner confidence that seems eerily familiar and
Ferdinand traces it back to the World Cup Finals in 1998 when Michael
Owen first burst onto the international scene as a raw and exciting
18-year-old. Now he believes the 19-year-old Arsenal winger has the
potential to follow in Owen's footsteps and become a major name in world
football.
"The self confidence Theo has got is amazing," Ferdinand said. "He
knows what he's good at and I remember Michael was exactly the same. I
was with him the whole time at the 1998 World Cup in France and he just
knew he was a good player and he knew what he was good at, even then.
"That's the thing that Michael had, at that time especially. He knew
what he was good at and that's what he made his game around.
"He was quick, direct and he could score a goal and you can see that
in Theo. Different players but the same mentality."
Owen, of course, announced himself to the world by scoring one of the
most iconic World Cup goals of all time in England's last 16 tie against
Argentina that year and now it is down to Walcott to carry on the
tradition.
Ten years later Owen's illustrious England career could well be
nearing an end after being left out of the most recent squad by manager
Fabio Capello despite remaining his country's current top scorer with 40
goals. But there is a new teenage hero in town.
Walcott's hat-trick in last month's 4-1 win over Croatia confirmed
his potential and Ferdinand expects him to continue his progress over
the next two games against Kazakhstan at Wembley and Belarus in Minsk
four days later. "As a young player it's difficult to come in front of
the media or a room full of senior internationals and start holding
court. But he can do it," Ferdinand said.
"I think he's two or three years of it in the background and now he's
coming into the foreground a little bit more and taken it in his
stride."
"Going to the 2006 World Cup was good experience for him. I think
more than anything you learn how people are around the hotel, how
they're relaxing, what they eat, how they train and how they prepare
themselves for a game. And then how they come down after a game in a
tournament situation.
"That was an invaluable experience for me at Euro 96 when I got to
see the likes of Gazza, Paul Ince, Tony Adams, Shearer, Sheringham and
those kind of experienced players.
To see them first hand and how they reacted in team situations was
good for me. And it's the same for Theo.
"Going to a tournament you can see what others have done and take
things from that to deal with your own situation.
"So definitely Theo would have learnt from World Cup and Sven Goran
Eriksson should take quite a bit of credit for having the foresight to
take him to a tournament like that.
"A lot of people said he shouldn't have taken him but hopefully we'll
now reap the benefit."
It's clear, however, that Walcott has matured considerably since
those days in Germany when he never made it onto the bench let alone the
pitch.
"In time he's come out of himself a bit more," Ferdinand said. "Being
away with us for a ten-day period last time helped him because he was
with us, day-in and day-out.
"But I think he's got that confidence about him that he knows he's
got talent and attributes and if he uses them in the right way then he's
going to be almost unplayable.
"Right now he's maturing nicely and it's about guiding him in the
right way. I don't think it's beneficial to the England team to
over-hype individuals when we've not even achieved anything yet but he's
doing well."
LONDON, Thursday (AFP)
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