Owen will make his first international appearance for almost 12 months when he leads England's attack in the eagerly-awaited friendly with Brazil at Wembley.

Fitness permitting, the 27-year-old will retain his place for the crucial Euro 2008 in Estonia five days later when it is widely believed a failure to win will cost Steve McClaren his job.

Owen does not see the situation in such black and white terms. But, as the fourth-highest goalscorer in England history, the Newcastle forward recognises his responsibilities.

And, not only is he happy to accept them, past experience suggests he will thrive on them.

"I don't think I can score against Brazil and Estonia, I know I can," he said.

"Due to my past experiences, I have a bigger base of self-belief than most.

"With most players, it is around 50% self-belief and 50% confidence. With me, the ratio is more like 80-20.

"Even if I am not playing too well, I still feel I can contribute. Even if I have not had a kick, I still feel I can score with my first opportunity. I have never lost that feeling throughout my career."

Owen's phenomenal scoring return certainly provides some re-assurance for a player whose last goal in England colours came in the remarkable friendly win over Argentina 18 months ago.

Since then, the Newcastle striker has had to battle back from a broken foot which threatened his participation at the World Cup and the cruciate ligament injury which wrecked his tournament once he got to Germany.

His presence has been badly missed during a European Championship qualifying campaign in which - two meetings with the part-timers of Andorra aside - England have managed just one goal in four games.

McClaren is acutely aware the record must improve if England are to stand any chance of reaching next summer's finals in Austria and Switzerland, which is why he had no hesitation in recalling Owen, even though the former Liverpool man is some way short of full fitness.

Likely to find himself on his own up front against Brazil and partnered by Alan Smith in Tallinn, Owen is not about to shirk the responsibility.

"The hardest thing to do in football is score," he said.

"I don't find that responsibility hard to handle. I have grown up with it and I would actually have it no other way.

"Knowing people expect me to score makes me feel a couple of inches taller. I love high stakes games, the more pressure the better as far as I am concerned."

With David Beckham back in the fold as well, it is very much like old times for England.

The only major difference is that the former Real Madrid team-mates are now mere foot soldiers under John Terry rather than captain and vice-captain as they were before.

Owen insisted he has no problem with that, accepting his injury meant it would have been meaningless for McClaren to discover his views anyway.

Instead of helping McClaren through the difficult early days of his reign, Owen has been nothing more than a frustrated bystander as England's depressing qualifying campaign unfolded, culminating in the fearful abuse McClaren suffered at the hands of his own fans in Barcelona during a miserable goalless first-half against Andorra.

"I felt for Steve and the players that night," said Owen.

"It was almost an accumulation of things. A lot of people went into the game frustrated because we had not played too well in the games leading up to that.

"Everyone was poised really to let their frustrations go and with things not going as planned on the night, tempers started to fray."

The experience could certainly be viewed as a good one to miss.

Owen takes the alternative opinion, claiming he was desperate to be involved because he felt he could have made a difference.

His theory will be put to the test against the most glamorous opposition possible on Friday in a match which represents England's first game at their magnificent new home.

No-one could have envisaged a meeting with Brazil would become a mere sideshow in comparison with Wednesday's trip to Estonia.

Having dropped points against Macedonia, Croatia and Israel already, and with an autumn double-header with Russia still to come, England have little margin for error already. Against a side without a goal or a point in Group E so far, a further slip-up is unthinkable.

"It has not quite happened for us in a couple of games so far but we are still in a position where we can qualify," said Owen.

"We have got plenty of home games to come and if we can in Estonia things will look a lot rosier for us."

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