When Michael Owen scored his second goal against Russia, he moved to within nine goals of England's all-time goalscoring record. Chief sports writer Scott Wilson met the Newcastle striker to discuss what making goalscoring history would mean

FLICK through England's record books, and you will already find the name of Michael Owen. There, in the chapter entitled injuries and ailments, Owen holds the dubious honour of being the quickest England player ever to be stretchered off the field in a World Cup finals.

It is hardly an accolade he would want to leave as his legacy, yet as he fought to hold back the tears on a treatment table in the bowels of Cologne's Rhein Energie Stadion last June, it had looked like providing the postscript to his career.

Stricken by a cruciate knee ligament injury that would eventually take the best part of a year to heal, Owen's days at the highest level of the game appeared to be over.

Yes, he had made his mark with that memorable mazy run against Argentina and that never-to-be-forgotten hat-trick in Munich's Olympic Stadium, but the final, enduring image of his England career looked like it would be one of agony rather than achievement.

Fast forward 15 months, and Owen is eyeing the record books once again. But whereas his previous entry had charted the lowest point of his playing days, his next landmark achievement could leave him alone at the pinnacle of the English game.

Having scored his 40th international goal in Wednesday night's 3-0 defeat of Russia, the Newcastle striker needs just nine more goals to move alongside Bobby Charlton as England's leading goalscorer. Ten, and he will be England's most successful striker of all time.

"Obviously it would be a very proud achievement and a wonderful honour," said Owen, whose three goals in two games against Israel and Russia have totally transformed England's hopes of qualifying for next year's European Championships in Austria and Switzerland.

"I have been asked about the record even since I scored my 30th goal, my 31st and my 32nd. Hopefully, I will be asked about it nine more times if I am lucky enough to keep on getting closer.

"I am still a long way off and everyone knows that if you score three or four international goals in a year, you have done very well. I need to keep my form for three or four more years if I am going to pass the record."

Form, and perhaps more importantly, fitness. Given that England played two games against Andorra while Owen was slogging his way through a painful process of rehabilitation, it is tempting to wonder just how many more goals he might have scored had he remained injury-free.

The vast majority of his goals have come in competitive internationals - one of the truest tests of a world-class goalscorer - and all have come in an era when the national side has been anything but unbeatable.

Provided he maintains his current level of fitness, the record is surely his for the taking. Especially when you consider that he is still only 27.

It seems almost incomprehensible given that it is almost nine-and-a-half-years since he waltzed through Argentina's defence in St Etienne, but the Magpies marksman could still have six or seven years at the highest level of the game.

If he was to maintain his current scoring ratio in that time, a tally of 60 or 70 goals would hardly be out of the question.

"I am hoping my best years are still ahead of me at international level," said Owen. "I am still young and I have a long time to go before I start falling away. I am only 27 and I am sure there are good times ahead of me.

"I would love to break the record quickly, but I know it could take me three or four years. If you look at the performance of any top striker, you've done well if you score four international goals in a year because that could be over just eight games."

That Owen can look forward to those eight games in a year at all is remarkable given the extent of his recent injury problems.

Last summer's knee injury followed a broken metatarsal that had already sidelined him for half a season, and necessitated two operations to repair torn cartilage and entirely reconstruct both his anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments.

Two separate trips to the United States underlined the seriousness of his plight, before a nine-month process of rehabilitation carried him along the long, tortuous path to recovery.

There were the endless swimming sessions in a private gym in Jesmond, the countless weight exercises in Newcastle's Darsley Park training complex and the selfless running while his team-mates prepared for their next competitive outing.

To make matters worse, there was also a mounting whispering campaign with which to contend. Owen was only interested in England said the critics, or at least that and earning himself a lucrative move away from Tyneside in the summer.

The striker's response was a dignified silence, but all the while he never stopped backing his own ability to return and make his critics eat their words.

"I never, ever doubted I would make it," he explained. "I am a very strong person and I think that helped.

"There might be a lot of people with more skill than me, but there aren't that many who are mentally stronger. Whether it comes to long-term injuries or criticism because of a lack of form, I have thicker skin than anyone else I know.

"I am always confident and that helps me be mentally strong. I don't think I'm arrogant or big-headed, but I do think I'm a naturally confident person.

"And of course it always helps when you're scoring a few goals."

A few, of course, meaning another nine or ten