The reawakening of Owen

Michael Owen's role as a scintillating scourge of Argentina was lauded last night by Sven Goran Eriksson after the Liverpool striker's disappointing contribution in England's opening game with Sweden.

The diminutive forward consistently pierced the Argentina back three of Mauricio Pochettino – who eventually felled him for the decisive penalty converted by captain David Beckham – Walter Samuel and Diego Placente with those audacious, twisting runs we first witnessed on an international stage against the same rivals at Saint Etienne in the World Cup in France four years ago.

"What we saw yesterday is the real Michael Owen, how we want to see him always," claimed the England coach after his victorious team had returned to their base camp on Awaji Island to prepare for Wednesday's crucial final Group F game against Nigeria at Osaka. "Not just waiting for the ball up there, but dropping down, going left, going right. It's very difficult to play against if you don't know where he is, you don't know where he will pop up. I said that to him.

"If you know that he will only stay up there, fighting with a big centre-half, it's not easy, but it's easier [to subdue him]. He did it very well yesterday. He was everywhere, and every time he could take a chance at goal in a one-against-one situation he took it. He could have scored two goals with a bit of luck."

Eriksson added: "I talked to Michael a little bit before the game yesterday in the dressing room. I think we did well for 35 minutes against Sweden and we were disappointed with ourselves for 45 minutes in the second half. That includes Michael Owen, but it was not easy to play up there in the second half against Sweden. No balls came, and when the balls came it was up in the sky. That's not Michael Owen's fault."

The European footballer of the year and scorer of 16 England goals in his 38 games was eventually substituted 11 minutes from time, and replaced by Wayne Bridge. With another substitute, Teddy Sheringham, having dropped deep, it left England under severe pressure without any outlet, apart from the flank players, Bridge and Trevor Sinclair.

But Eriksson defended his strategy. "Sitting there, you know you can make only one more substitution, and you can see that Argentina are all over us. We have to make the midfield stronger. I think it was correct to do it [bring Bridge on]. Of course, maybe you allow them to come at you even more, because the threat up front, with the pace of Michael, is not there but anyhow it was only 10 minutes. I would have done it again." The England coach was also almost oblivious of the impact the famous victory had had in his adopted homeland. After the triumph in Munich, such successes against the major powers in football are starting to become expected. "I've not seen anything, maybe just two minutes of the news from TV at lunchtime," he said. "They are two very good victories, of course. It's not easy for anyone, going to Germany and winning, and of course beating Argentina.

"For me, they are one of the favourites, even if they lost yesterday. Just look at the bench, who's sitting there: Aimar, Crespo, Lopez. It's not bad."

Eriksson revealed that he and his staff had made a video of England's draw with Sweden, highlighting points requiring attention. But, mostly, it was a case of raising spirits and placing the result in context. "After Sweden it was like we had played one very important game and we had lost it, but in fact it was 1-1," he said.

"Not a word was said immediately afterwards and all the heads were down. We had to overcome that as quickly as possible. I said that it was not a funeral. Life is not finished after 1-1 against Sweden, with two games more. There was a good reaction. Yesterday before the game they were all very confident it would be difficult for Argentina to win."

England still require a point against the Super Eagles to confirm their place in the last 16, and Eriksson added: "I will be relieved when we qualify. If we beat Argentina and then go home on the 13th of June that would be very sad. If we can go through, anything is possible. Anything. You never know. The games come very quickly after each other and every team becomes increasingly tired."

The mood in Sapporo was one of quiet confidence on Friday night after the 1-0 victory which left the Argentinians departing the stadium in sullen silence and reports – unsubstantiated – that they had refused to swap shirts with their England counterparts. They were all sucking lollipops, Kojak-style. "Who loves ya, baby?" Well, possibly not their followers, who had little cause for optimism despite their team's domination of possession.

Eriksson's players and staff enjoyed dinner together on Friday night in Sapporo, but apparently indulged in nothing to excess. "Yes, they could have a glass of wine, but it was not a big celebration. Nothing special," said Eriksson. "Then today they did a very good practice, warming-down, and I reminded them of the importance of the Nigeria game. I think we are prepared."

Nigeria have pushed both Argentina and Sweden to the limits with their attractive football, and Eriksson warned: "They are proud; they don't want to go back home after three games with nil points. I expect them to be very dangerous. I think at this moment it will be very good to remember what happened after the game against Germany in the qualifiers.

"That was a very good result, but then we played Albania and did our job but did not perform very well and, when we played Greece, we did not play very good. We only qualified because of David Beckham's tremendous free-kick in injury time which earned us the draw we needed.

"I do not want that to happen again – for us not to play well – after achieving an outstanding result. If anyone thinks because we have beaten Argentina, one of the best sides in the world, that it will be easy to beat Nigeria, then it will be very stupid and also very dangerous. They will be able to go out and play football. It will be fun for them."

For England, though, it remains highly serious work. The rewards are massive.