17 August 2005
Post-Match: Michael Owen
England striker Michael Owen says that England's pride has been a little dented by friendly defeat to Denmark.

Michael Owen believes England will fight back after their defeat in Denmark but admits the result was hard to take.

The Real Madrid striker came on in the second half and had to watch as the Three Lions conceded four goals in Copenhagen.

He is now trying desperately to take positives from the result but says the bare facts are that the defeat was a bitter pill to swallow.

He said: "We’re very disappointed but thankfully it wasn’t a qualifier or a championship match. But it was a very disappointing night. Losing 4-1 is a bad result at any level, let alone playing for England.

"I know we made changes at half-time but we had enough experienced players playing in both halves of the match to deal with it. Whatever the team the manager put out there should be no excuses for what happened.

"We have obviously got to turn it into a positive for the upcoming match against Wales, which of course is the important one."

Owen is confident there will be no repeat of the Copenhagen nightmare when the Three Lions arrive in Cardiff. And he is taking confidence from previous results in competitive matches under Head Coach Sven-Goran Eriksson.

England have never lost a World Cup or European Championship qualifier under Sven and intend to keep that record going.

Owen said: "We’ll be ready for Wales despite this result. We always rise to the big occasion and that’s why so many of these players are in the England team.

"We have a good record in meaningful games but not in friendlies. It’s better having it that way around but that doesn’t mean losing 4-1 is acceptable. All we can do now is try and put it right against Wales."