Owen or Wayne is daunting choice facing the boss

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Because, despite the fact that the Manchester United wunderkind broke his three-year competitive drought for England yesterday, there is still considerable doubt whether he and Owen are an effective partnership.

Which one? Owen and Rooney in training for England

Emile Heskey's injury means McClaren can postpone the decision at least until November's final qualifier against Croatia but, assuming England do progress to next summer's finals, he may have to choose between England's most consistent goalscorer and England's most gifted player.

The Rooney fans will point to a sumptuous chip that dropped on to the top of Mart Poom's net and the flicks and tricks that followed the confidencebuilding goal which ended 1,210 days of hurt since the second of his brace against Croatia at Euro 2004.

But the 21-year-old was anonymous in the second half and was arguably fortunate that Owen's recent operation meant it was he who gave way to Frank Lampard in the 70th minute.

Not that Owen himself was anything special on a day he must have hoped would edge him closer to breaking Sir Bobby Charlton's all-time England goalscoring record. Even making allowances for the groin surgery, however, there was something lacking from Owen's game and it was not all down to him.

Against Israel and Russia, when he plundered three goals, Owen and Heskey looked made for each other. The Wigan striker's aerial ability and power unsettled admittedly limited defenders,Owen's second goal against Russia being the perfect example of the space Heskey creates for his strike partners by taking away defenders.

Statistics can be damned lies, of course, but the average time it takes Owen to score when he