Owen sends W-Cup signal

England striker Michael Owen hit a Champions League hat-trick on Tuesday to give national coach Fabio Capello a timely reminder of his talent as Manchester United finished top of their group. Owen, who turns 30 on Dec 14, demonstrated his finishing class with a well-taken treble to seal United’s 3-1 victory at Wolfsburg to dump the Germans out of the Champions League and boost his World Cup chances.
It was Owen’s first Champions League hat-trick since joining Manchester United last summer.
After his first-half header, Owen slid home his second on 83 minutes before producing a superb effort in stoppage time to claim his third.
“Michael Owen is one of the best strikers in the last third of the field in terms of his movement, his positional play and also in terms of his finishing,” insisted United manager Alex Ferguson.
And the Scot hinted a place in United’s first-choice side may well beckon for Owen, who is England’s fourth-highest scorer with 40 goals for his country.
The 29-year-old won the last of his 89 England caps in March 2008 in the 1-0 defeat to France and could yet make Capello’s 2010 World Cup squad based on this sort of form.
“At the end of the day, the evidence is on the football field and he gave plenty of that tonight,” said Ferguson.
“I have no worries of playing him, he has improved steadily in training. Normally we play with one striker in Wayne Rooney, but here we had two strikers in Daniel Welbeck and Michael and I am delighted with Michael’s performance.”

 ||> Precious cargo: Michael Owen carries the ball under his jersey after the Champions League match against Wolfsburg. Owen scored a hat-trick in the 3-1 win.