Hargreaves nears return

August 26, 2008

Owen Hargreaves hopes to be fit to help England I the qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup that take place against Andorra and Croatia in September.

The Manchester United midfielder has been out injured with tendinitis but is hoping to make an appearance against Zenit St Petersburg in the Uefa Super Cup.

“Maybe I will be fit for England, but Manchester United come first,” he said.

“Monaco is a possibility,” talking about the match against Zenit.

The last appearance that Hargreaves made for England was against the USA back in May.

“I have felt it the tendinitis for the past 16 months, but hopefully I will be back playing in a week or two.”

“Physically I demand a lot of myself. I wish it wasn’t the case but I just have to cope with it.

“Obviously I am trying to get better - I do a bit more every day.

“Last season I was fit towards the end. That is the reason the boss brought me here.

“Obviously there is a big season ahead for Manchester United and England and I want to be fit and available.”

The 2010 World Cup Qualifying campaign starts for England on the 6th of September facing the Andorrans and there is a tough game against Croatia only 4 days later. Hargreaves is very much in the mind of the England boss especially after the poor performances recently.

“I think there is Hargreaves,” said Capello, looking ahead to the challenge posed by Croatia. “I’ve said before, we suffered on the counter-attack when other teams play a 9-1 formation. If you score a goal it changes completely.

“I noted a lot of things against Czech Republic, the good things and the bad things. It is important for me because the four games we played before, the level of teams were not like this.”

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