Keegan puts his faith in Owen

Keegan is not afraid to turn to Owen

Kevin Keegan is convinced that Michael Owen can lead England's attack in their opening game against Portugal on Monday if Alan Shearer fails to recover from a knee injury.

The England coach remains confident that Shearer will recover from the injury he suffered in last week's friendly in Malta.

But, should the captain lose his race to be fit, Keegan believes Owen has the maturity to lead the line against Portugal, despite the 20-year-old boasting just 19 international caps.

"Whoever gets the nod to lead the attack if Alan doesn't play will have the confidence to do so," said Keegan.

"Michael needed the Brazil game and to get a goal, more for himself than anything else.

"The thing about this squad though is that the kids we have got in there - Owen, Emile Heskey, Steve Gerrard, Gareth Barry and Richard Wright - are not fazed by it all.

"They just look the part and that has been a major plus. One or two of them will have a major contribution to make to this tournament - certainly Michael Owen will."

Alan Shearer faces a race to be fit

Shearer has started every one of Keegan's 13 games in charge of England but is suffering a reaction to an injury which had apparently troubled him for a month before the Malta friendly.

But Keegan is adamant he will shake off the problem and said: "The injury is not serious.

"My gut feeling is he will be okay, but medically he has to go out there and do a full session. He hasn't trained for five days, which is never ideal.

Upbeat

"He feels fine and very upbeat, but the real key is how Alan will feel after he has trained.

"It has got to be a joint decision between me, him and the medical staff. You can't leave anything up to the players because if they were carrying a little bit of an injury they would probably say they were okay to play."

Keegan insists he has no intention of replacing Shearer in the squad with another striker and believes his captain will bounce back.

"If he said he needed another 24 hours then that would be fine. Because of the player he is and what he means to us, we would give him that time," said Keegan.

He added: "If Alan does not make this game, he will certainly make the next one against Germany five days later."