Owen on track as England lose Brown

LONDON (AFP) - Michael Owen handed England a major boost as he came through the squad's first training session ahead of their Euro 2008 qualifiers against Estonia and Russia, 11 days after undergoing hernia surgery.

But head coach Steve McClaren will have to do without back-up defender Wes Brown for at least the match against Estonia at Wembley on Saturday.

McClaren said the Manchester United defender had been sent back to his club after having a knee injury assessed by England's medical staff.

Brown, who may have been involved against Estonia because of McClaren's desire to rest first choice players ahead of next week's trip to Russia, is the third player to drop out of England's 27-man squad, joining injured strikers Dean Ashton and Andrew Johnson on the sidelines.

McClaren was delighted to see Owen -- who has scored four goals in England's last three competitive matches -- firing on all cylinders.

But he would not be drawn on the key selection dilemmas he faces, notably whether to restore Frank Lampard to his starting line-up following Gareth Barry's impressive displays against Israel and Russia last month.

"There are plenty of issues to talk about, as far as the team on Saturday goes," McClaren said. "Decisions will be made on Friday.

"Frank Lampard has been a great servant to England. I'm on record as saying he was our man of the match against Germany (in a 2-1 friendly defeat in August). He is looking good in training and we will see."

On Owen, McClaren said: "He looked very sharp, all the players did considering they played (for their clubs) only two days ago."

Owen has made it clear he is keen to play in both upcoming matches, despite the reservations of his Newcastle boss Sam Allardyce over whether he will be up to that so soon after his surgery.

"No risks will be taken, but Michael is a very, very important player for us," McClaren said.

"There is no club v country issue, no conflict. It is just dialogue between myself, the manager, the club and the player. Ultimately we don't take risks with any player but anybody in my situation would want Michael playing."

Owen made a scoring return to the Newcastle side on Sunday, coming off the bench to claim his club's third goal in a 3-2 win over Everton.