Owen, who suffered a back muscle strain playing for Real Madrid on Sunday, was unable to take part in England's training session at Manchester United's Carrington training ground.

Instead he was gently put through his paces by England physio Gary Lewin with only light jogging and stretching on the menu.

Owen had said on Tuesday that a scan had shown no serious damage to the muscle and voiced confidence he would prove his fitness.

Even if he does recover sufficiently, Owen faces mounting competition for a starting place from Tottenham's Jermain Defoe, who scored on his full international debut against Poland last month.

Meanwhile, Geoff Hurst, the striker who scored a hat-trick for England in the 1966 World Cup final, has urged Sven-Goran Eriksson to axe Owen from the side to face Wales on Saturday.

Hurst, who famously displaced Jimmy Greaves from Sir Alf Ramsay's team during the 1966 finals, said his lack of action for his new club should rule him out in any case.

"When Sir Alf Ramsay was manager of England, there were two stipulations before he would consider you for selection," Hurst said Wednesday.

"You had to be playing regularly for your club and you mustn't be in dispute with them. On that basis, Michael fails because he isn't playing every week for Real Madrid.

"Eriksson has Wayne Rooney available again and also Jermain Defoe, who has scored goals regularly with every club he has played for, also for England at junior levels and now with the senior team. On that basis I would select Jermain with Rooney."