Fergie - Owen not fit for England

Hargreaves: Unlikely to play for England

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Sir Alex Ferguson believes it would be 'impossible' for Owen Hargreaves to play in England's World Cup qualifier with Croatia.

Hargreaves is due to make his first appearance of the season for Manchester United on Friday in the Super Cup clash with Zenit St Petersburg.

The midfielder has been struggling with a knee injury and Ferguson is keen for Hargreaves to get some match action under his belt.

However, the United boss does not feel Hargreaves will be ready for England's opening qualifiers against Andorra on 6th September before heading to Croatia four days later.

Too important

"It would be impossible, in my opinion," said Ferguson. "I think it would be very unlikely that Fabio Capello would risk him.

"Okay, anybody could play against Andorra, but England have a very, very difficult match next against Croatia and I think they have to have players who are 100 per cent and spot-on for a game of that nature.

"And we know he is not ready for that. I can't see it. It is too important for Capello and for England."

Ferguson admits Hargreaves will not play 90 minutes against Zenit and concedes the former Bayern Munich man's injury has been 'very irritating'.

He added: "It is not a serious injury, but it is a frustrating one and very irritating for the player.

"Hargreaves has trained for the past 10 days and now I'm giving him the go-ahead to get some time on the field. We feel he has had the right treatment and it is a matter of getting on with it, but I won't be playing him for a full game."