At France 98 Owen announced himself to the rest of the world with some eye-catching performances - including that wonder goal in their second round exit against Argentina. However, four years on the Liverpool striker realises much more will be expected of him if England are to be successful. "I'm four years older and more experienced that is probably the main thing since France 98," he said.

"I have certainly improved on certain parts of my game since then but when you come on scene as an 18-year-old you are not expected to do anything and you are in a win-win situation and you can make a name for yourself.

"It is a different type of pressure now. We're hoping to get a bit further than the second round, irrespective of what I do.

"I've not set myself a personal goal target. It is a tough group we are in and I don't think goals will be easy to come by. As long as they are important goals I don't mind.

"If you are an England player you have to cope with pressure and the pressure that is supposedly on me will help me."

Owen looks after the armband in the absence of the injured David Beckham but he said he would be more than happy to hand it back for the first game against Sweden. And he added that the whole England camp was confident the clutch of injuries affecting a number of players would have cleared up in time for their World Cup opener in Saitama on June 2.

"I would prefer David to be doing it (the captaincy) and I'm expecting him to be leading the team out for Sweden and if he is not I will be willing an able to do it," said Owen.

"David is a vital member of the team and we need the captain to be fit. Every team has players they don't want to miss and David is one of them.

"There are a few injuries at the present moment but we are not overly concerned about that and as long as we are all fit for the World Cup itself then it won't be a problem."

The Liverpool striker sees the two forthcoming friendly games as an important part of the preparation before they meet the Swedish.

"You have to play these top sides. We don't play a lot with the busy schedule we have for our clubs so every game we can play is important," added the Owen, who revealed that he was fully fit for tomorrow's game.

"No-one wants to get a knock and miss out through injury so everyone will be hoping to get through the game fine but that is not a consideration in the game.

"Every tournament we play in is similar to this. We have been here before and played in warm-up games before. You prefer to get them out of the way and get into the action but these are important steps we have to take.

"The manager (Sven-Goran Eriksson) has not named the side yet and I would say that the team that starts tomorrow will not be the team that starts the first game.''

The usually extremely thorough Eriksson will not spend too much time examining the strengths of South Korea.

Owen added: "I'm not sure the management staff will go into too much detail about them. They'll be more interested about how we play, because it's not Korea we play in the World Cup it's Sweden in the first leg.

"It is an important game for confidence and we are going to use it as a good exercise. If we win it doesn't mean we will win the World Cup and if we lose it does not mean we will lose the World Cup." Owen and Manchester United's Beckham are the most popular England players in Asia, and the Liverpool man said he expected plenty of attention from fans before his arrival.

He explained: "You get a rough gauge by what kind of fan mail you get, and Scandinavia and Asia is where I get most from.

"We came here in pre-season with Liverpool to Thailand and Malaysia, and that was something special to see.

"Manchester United and Liverpool are the most popular teams out here, so I guess individuals from these teams will be the most popular out here."

Owen also revealed that club-mate Steven Gerrard was coming to terms with missing the World Cup after having an operation on a troublesome groin injury. "Danny Murphy (Gerrard's replacement and Liverpool team-mate) phoned Steve straight after the operation and he is obviously disappointed by this," added Owen.

"But he is hoping he can be fit for the start of next season."