Owen aims to be sharper for Euro clashes

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Owen, still not back to his sharpest following the anterior cruciate ligament injury that kept him out of action for more than a year, missed two clear-cut chances as England slumped to their first defeat at the new Wembley.

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Rusty: Michael Owen is determined to return to full fitness

Frank Lampard put England ahead in the ninth minute but a goalkeeping howler from Paul Robinson gifted Kevin Kuranyi an equaliser and Christian Pander condemned England to defeat with a 25-yard drive five minutes before the break.

But Owen, who hit a hat-trick for England against Germany in the famous 5-1 win in September 2001, is hoping that he will be much sharper by the time they take on Israel and Russia next month.

Owen declared: "It was disappointing that we lost the game. We had some positive parts of the game but in general to lose at home was a disappointing night.

"I would not say I was happy about my performance at all. I missed two chances and I am frustrated about that.

"With me, my past history suggests that after an injury it normally takes me two or three games to get fully fizzing about and sharp.

"Hopefully, that's the case this time and in a couple of weeks, with a couple of good games for my club, I'll come back and be even sharper in order to punish teams when they give me chances like that.

"I am fit. It is just sharpness. When you miss a couple of chances you are a little bit down after the game. I am disappointed to miss a couple chances and hopefully I can save them for the proper games in the next couple of weeks.

"The next two games are going to be vital to us qualifying. They are pivotal games. It was disappointing tonight but the next two games are much more important and hopefully we can play better than we did against Germany."

Owen, who was substituted in the second half, insisted that Germany's victory was a hollow one because of England's attacking performance.

He added: "It was disappointing they won, I don't believe they deserved to. We had a lot more possession and they scored two goals that you would never expect to go in.

"One was a wonder strike from 30 yards and it was a catalogue of errors for the first one. We had a lot more clear cut chances - we had about 16 shots. I was guilty of missing two of them in the first half and hopefully I'll be sharper next time."