Michael Owen: 5 Great England Moments from the Retiring Striker's Career

Michael Owen announced on Tuesday his intention to retire at the end of this current season. The Stoke City striker's decision will bring down the curtain on the career of one of England's best strikers of the modern era.

Plenty will be written and spoken about the toll Owen's injury problems ultimately took on his career. While these perhaps stopped him from reaching even greater heights than he did, he still leaves a legacy which most players can only dream of.

Owen enjoyed some great times in his club career, particularly at Liverpool. So many great moments also came representing England, and it is those contributions on the world stage that are celebrated here.

Owen Introduces Himself to the World at France '98

Michael Owen earned his place in England's 1998 World Cup squad on the back off a good first season proper for Liverpool. The famous 'SAS' partnership Alan Shearer and Teddy Sheringham was still first choice upfront, but Owen was hot on their heels.

The precocious 18-year-old got his chance to start having made two substitute appearances in the first two group games, the second of which against Romania had seen him equalize in a game England ultimately lost 2-1. He started their final Group G game against Colombia as Glenn Hoddle's team sealed their progress to the second round.

Owen was in the starting line-up again against Argentina. He and Diego Simeone took turns in going down rather easily in the opening 10 minutes, both incidents leading to penalties and the score being 1-1. If that was one of the less desirable traits of Owen's game (and he was, and is, not alone here), the better part was soon on display.

David Beckham floated the ball perfectly into the striker's path on the edge of the center circle. Owen's charging run into the penalty area demonstrated his speed, grace and determination. The shot that followed as he veered right of the goal showed his sensational finishing.

It was the goal that truly introduced the striker to a footballing world that would become very familiar with him in the coming years. Sadly for England, they had to wait until after the tournament, after Argentina knocked them out on penalties.

Owen Helps the England Team to One of Its Best Nights

The England/Germany football rivalry takes its roots in outdated notions of conflict between the two countries dating back to the two World Wars. From a sporting perspective though, the matches between these two have long outgrown those antiquated notions of animosity (at least for the sensible among us), to be replaced by a genuine sense of competition between two of world football's biggest nations.

It has resulted in some classic games over the years. Germans will not count this as one of them, but from an English perspective, outside of the 1966 World Cup final, few can compare.

Owen was at the heart of this 5-1 World Cup qualifier win in 2001, scoring a hat-trick (Steven Gerrard and Emile Heskey scored the others) that displayed his goal-poaching abilities at their most clinical.

The result went some way for making up for a dreary couple of years for the national team, with Owen one of those leading the way in a time of great hope for England, even though success would ultimately elude them. On that night in Munich, however, Sven-Goran Eriksson and his team were able to celebrate a memorable win as they toasted future possibilities.

For Owen, the hat-trick was part of a memorable 2001 in which he won a treble with Liverpool and was awarded the Ballon d'Or for his performances.

Owen Opens the Scoring Against Brazil at the 2002 World Cup

Owen had scored against Brazil before—in a 1-1 friendly draw at Wembley two years previously. This one, at least for a little while, felt a little extra special.

England would lose this 2002 World Cup quarterfinal to Brazil 2-1, with the heat of Shizuoka and the class of the eventual tournament winners proving too much. For a little while though, Eriksson's side had the advantage and reason to dream.

With 23 minutes played, Heskey's searching ball for Owen looked to have been intercepted by Lucio, only for the defender to let the striker inside and whip the ball away from him. Owen raced into the box and comfortably put the ball into the back of the net.

The time difference meant that back home in England, millions of people were watching in the morning with school and work days delayed to allow them to do so. For 20 glorious minutes, they enjoyed as happy a breakfast as they are ever likely to experience.

Owen Scores Twice in the Lash Hurrah of the Eriksson Era

As friendlies go, this was an exciting one.

In November 2005, England and Argentina fought it out in front of 29,000 people in Switzerland's Stade de Geneve, with Owen and his teammates coming out on top in a 3-2 win. It was, as such, the last great performance of Eriksson's time in charge.

Having gone twice behind, England did not let their heads drop. Though only a friendly, this was still Argentina—any win over them is a good one. Owen summed up this determination with a match-winning brace.

For his first, with 86 minutes played, Owen escaped from his marker at the back post to get on the end of a superb cross, hit from deep by Gerrard. Then, with time running out, the striker was granted an unfathomable amount of space in the box to head in Joe Cole's pinpoint pass.

Owen Scores His Last Goals for England

Nobody would have anticipated this 3-0 win would be the last time Michael Owen scored for England, but this brace against Russia in a European Championships qualifier in September 2007 would be it for the striker. It took him to 40 goals, fourth on the country's all-time top scorer list.

Owen's first saw him fire in after being left unmarked in the penalty area as the ball came back in after a cleared corner. His second was, in hindsight, a fine way to sign off as one of England's best ever goalscorers.

Heskey won a great flick-on from Rio Ferdinand's hoofed ball forward, sending it directly to Owen. Letting it bounce in front of him, he proceeded to strike it with conviction beyond the reach of Russian goalkeeper Vyacheslav Malafeev.