WITH Wayne Rooney looking certain to miss the first three games of England's World Cup campaign, Michael Owen has assured the country's fans he is capable of shouldering the team's goal-scoring burden on his own.

Rooney will have a second scan on his broken metatarsal on Thursday but, while the Manchester United striker is expected to be given the green light to take some part in this summer's tournament, he is extremely unlikely to feature in England's group games against Paraguay, Trinidad & Tobago and Sweden.

With the unprolific Peter Crouch and the untested Theo Walcott having been named in Sven-Goran Eriksson's 23-man squad, that means Owen will be England's only proven goal-scorer for the opening two weeks of the tournament.

For most players, such a massive weight of expectation would be difficult to deal with in the already-frenzied atmosphere of a World Cup finals.

But for Owen, a 26-year-old who is about to kick off his third World Cup after bursting on to the scene at France '98, the pressure is merely par for the course.

"I can handle it," claimed the Newcastle striker, who has only returned to full training himself this week after taking five months to recover from the foot injury he sustained on New Year's Eve.

"If anyone plays for England and plays for them on a regular basis, and plays either for or against the top Premiership teams like Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal, you have to be able to handle the pressure.

"There are massive games every week, and that's before you get to a Champions League final like Arsenal played in (on Wednesday).

"Pressure comes with life and, to be honest, it washes over me. I can stay focused, no matter what people say or write.

"I don't get too excited when things are going great. It's not a difficult thing to do - not for me anyway.

"I'm like that in life really. If something fantastic happens, yes I can get excited, but I never go over the top, to the point that I can't think straight. And I never get too low. I tend to be able to keep to the middle ground about a lot of things."

Understandably, Owen's level-headedness stems primarily from his extensive experience.

While the bulk of England's squad remain relatively unproven at the very top of the world game - even the likes of David Beckham, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard have struggled to make their mark on a World Cup finals or European Championships - Owen left France as one of the undisputed stars of the tournament.

His second-round goal against Argentina remains one of the most evocative World Cup moments of all time and was all the more remarkable given the striker's teenage years and limited Premiership experience at the time.

Since then, he has gone on to score in FA Cup finals and European Championships, successes that have enabled him to approach next month's tournament with an unbridled confidence in his ability in front of goal.

"Good experiences in life are a positive thing," explained Owen. "The first time I ever played in a World Cup, I scored. The first time I ever played in a football match full stop, I scored.

"The first time I played for Liverpool, the first time I did a lot of things, it was always the same story.

"If you do something the first time, it's not a confidence thing, it's deep within you and you know you can do something.

"There's going to be masses of pressure but I don't go to sleep thinking about that. I go to sleep thinking about that little rectangle that I have to smack the ball into. That's about it."

Significantly, Owen's confidence does not stop there. As well as predicting a successful World Cup on a personal basis, the former Liverpool and Real Madrid striker claims there is no reason why his team-mates should not set their collective sights similarly high.

Rooney's injury has robbed the England squad of one of their leading attacking lights but Owen insists there are still plenty of reasons for optimism with the opening game of the tournament now just 20 days away.

"I'm confident because I think we've got one of the best squads in the tournament," he said. "When you look around, you have to have more than one or two match-winners, so to speak.

"We've got Wayne, Frank Lampard, Stevie Gerrard, David (Beckham), Joe Cole - people who can turn a match with one bit of magic or a great goal.

"You look around the squad and you see many different ways that goals can come. Even John Terry seems to get into double figures for Chelsea each season, so he's dangerous from set-pieces.

"We certainly have a team where you can see goals coming from all directions."

The latest of those directions, of course, involves Walcott. The 17-year-old has spent most of this week easing his way into the England fold at the squad's training camp in the Algarve.

Owen knows exactly what Walcott is going through, having been a teenage gatecrasher himself eight years ago.

And, while he insists it is still too early to assess the Arsenal youngster's potential, he has been impressed with Walcott's seamless transition on to the international stage.

"In terms of being picked for the squad, there are similarities between what happened to me in '98 and what's happening with Theo now," said Owen. "As for the rest of it, we don't know yet.

"Everyone is going to welcome him into the squad, make him feel part of it, and hopefully by the time the first game kicks off, he's right into it and he won't have any nerves or apprehension and can make a big impact."