MICHAEL Owen's World Cup hopes are back in the balance this morning after Glenn Roeder admitted the Newcastle striker was left out of yesterday's 1-0 win over Chelsea because of more pain in his injured right foot.

Owen, who broke a metatarsal in a New Year's Eve collision with Spurs goalkeeper Paul Robinson, has been unable to join in full training since complaining of a "dull ache" during a 30-minute run out at Birmingham nine days ago.

Sven-Goran Eriksson will name Owen in the provisional 27-man squad he will announce this morning but, with England's World Cup opener against Paraguay now less than five weeks away, the 26-year-old remains a major injury doubt.

Owen will be asked to prove his fitness with a half-hour run out in England's B international against Belarus at Reading's Madejski Stadium on May 25 and, provided he comes through that unscathed, he will also be involved in friendlies against Hungary and Jamaica before the squad depart for Germany.

With Wayne Rooney almost certain to miss all three of England's group games, the prospect of Owen also failing to prove his fitness is a nightmare scenario for the national team.

And while Roeder insists it is too early to panic, the Magpies' caretaker boss admitted he harboured grave concerns over Owen's participation at this summer's finals.

"Until he's played a couple of 90-minute games with no reaction, it would only be natural to be concerned," said Roeder. "You can hardly say you're absolutely confident that Michael is going to be okay when he hasn't even got one 90-minute game under his belt.

"There has to be some concern, but we're nowhere near the stage where we need to be getting hysterical about it.

"Michael wasn't on the bench because he's exactly how he was after the game at Birmingham.

"He's done some light training this week and he wasn't 100 per cent happy with it. There's still a dull ache there.

"It's nothing serious and he hasn't needed to visit the surgeon for any more scans or X-rays since (last) Sunday.

"Now, it's just a question of being more patient and building him up. I'm sure there is still time for the World Cup.

"With this injury now, you have to take a weekly view of it rather than making long-term statements that could make you end up looking silly."

While last season's game drew the curtain on Newcastle's season, Owen could yet make a St James' Park appearance in Thursday night's testimonial for Alan Shearer.

The England international will be given the option of a 20-minute run-out against Celtic, although it remains unlikely he would be risked in such an uncompetitive environment.

"That will be left to Michael," said Roeder. " If between the medical team and Michael they thought there was any mileage in giving him a short run-out, then that would happen. If they didn't, he'll be at the game but he won't take part.

"I can't deny this is taking longer than we thought. We thought we'd have Michael back for the whole of April.

"It has surprised us that we have basically had him for 30 minutes at Birmingham last week and after ten minutes, he wasn't happy with it.

"In the last 20 minutes, he didn't play flat out.

"There are reasons for that, but we'd have to take a view and an opinion from our medical team to discuss why that has happened. Many other players have had the same injury and come back a lot quicker."

In Owen's absence, Roeder has spearheaded a stirring revival that has taken Newcastle into next season's Intertoto Cup.

Yesterday's 1-0 win secured a seventh-placed finish and booked a two-legged tie against continental opposition, likely to be Norwegian side Lillestrom, on July 15 and 22.

Victory in that would take the Magpies into the second qualifying round of the UEFA Cup, just one round before England's other qualifiers - Tottenham, West Ham and Blackburn - join the competition.

"I feel very satisfied," said Roeder. "I can't speak highly enough of the squad of players that have played since February. The whole squad has been involved and every one has played their part.

"The efforts of the squad have got us to the Intertoto Cup and given us an opportunity of playing in the UEFA Cup. At the start of February, the chances of that happening were not looking too clever.