It would have been heresy to question his position just a week ago, but today promises to be a defining moment in Michael Owen's career.

Owen has scarcely taken a backward step in the last four years, dodgy hamstrings excluded, and a welter of accolades have accompanied his inexorable rise towards fame and fortune.

The first Englishman to win the European Footballer of the Year award since Kevin Keegan, Owen is the natural goal-poacher his country has been crying out for ever since Gary Lineker swapped football pitch for TV studio.

Yet today, in Sapporo, Owen must pass the stiffest test of his career.

His talent is not in any doubt. But after a woefully ineffective performance against Sweden, the onus is on the Liverpool striker to deliver just when his country needs him most.

Owen has gone from the surprise package of the England side in 1998 to a cornerstone; a key component whose absence sends the national team into little short of a blind panic.

With the attention firmly focused on David Beckham's damaged metatarsal and Eriksson's countless other injury worries, the spotlight rarely fell on Owen in the build-up to the World Cup.

If he wanted to remind the world of his ability, he could hardly have wished for a better opportunity to prove a point than last weekend.

But Beckham excluded, anyone else who had been so inept last Sunday would have been fearing the chop from Sven-Goran Eriksson.

Instead, Owen will face Argentina today with the nation's hopes resting on his 22-year-old shoulders.

He has improved as a player since 1998. Today, we will learn just how much.

Owen, who has scored 16 goals in 37 England appearances, said: "I'm better in the air and with my left foot than I was four years ago. There's also none of the fear that I had then.

"I didn't want to be just remembered for that goal against Argentina.

"Since then, I've had ups and downs with injuries and whatever but I'd have settled then for where I am now. I think that I've made progress.

"There are so many people who come on to the scene, not only in football but in tennis, golf and cricket, and everyone builds them up.

"Not many of them can live up to the expectations.

"But I'm still here playing in the England team, so I think I've done all right."

That's a classic understatement from Owen, who is as modest and self-effacing off the pitch as he is quick and skillful on it.

But as one of precious few world-class players in the England team, Owen knows he must not flop again today.

The Argentinians are scared of him, make no mistake about that.

The absence of Roberto Ayala, their premier defender, leaves them particularly vulnerable, and it will take just one burst of Owen pace to reopen the wounds of 1998.

He said: "We view Argentina as a good team, like everyone else does, but we certainly view them as a beatable team.

"The better the team that we are playing against, the more you get out of yourself as well.

"We played them four years ago and gave them a good game, and we've played well against good opposition since then as well.

"They're an exceptional team but there's nothing to be afraid of."