Michael Owen has admitted he was not fit for England's crucial World Cup quarter-final against Brazil. The England striker opened the scoring with a typically cool first-half strike but faded fast in the second half as Sven-Goran Eriksson's side slumped to a 2-1 defeat.
And Owen has revealed how he was receiving treatment on his groin injury for 11 hours a day - but the problem had still not cleared up by Friday's Shizuoka clash.
He said: "I didn't train all week, except for the day before the Brazil game. I had treatment every day - for 11 hours a day.
"When it first happened it didn't feel like a bad injury. But then the next day it just went tight.
"There was nothing torn. It was just a niggle but I could feel it as I went out to play against Brazil.
"I could run but I couldn't go flat-out," the Liverpool man added in the News of the World. "But it was a game I didn't want to miss. It's not every day you are able to face Brazil in the quarter-finals of the World Cup."
Owen said his two goals in the tournament meant nothing now following England's exit.
"I can look back now and remember the goals I have scored to help to get us here - especially the hat-trick in the 5-1 win over Germany - and the two I scored in the finals, against Denmark and Brazil.
"But I would gladly swap them all for us to have been able to go all the way to the final and lift the trophy.
"Perhaps in 10 years' time I'll be able to look back with fond memories at the goals - but, at the moment, they mean nothing because we are going home," he added.
PA