Sven praises captain Owen

The Liverpool marksman celebrated becoming the youngest man to earn 50 caps for England by leading out the side at The Riverside against Slovakia.

With Eriksson's men a goal down, Owen created and scored a penalty to level the scores before heading in the winner to keep England's Euro 2004 dreams on track.

The Swedish coach said that the country was spoiled to have a player like Owen to come to the rescue.

"You don't appreciate Michael Owen, you are very spoiled to have him in this country," said Eriksson.

"I'm happy for Michael. It was a good way to show how to be captain and a good way to celebrate his 50th cap. Once again he showed in the important games that he's very gifted and he was excellent tonight.

"Steven Gerrard was also excellent, but that is no surprise to me. Every manager would like to have him in their team."

The hosts were stunned when Vladimir Janocko's free kick bounced straight in, and the coach admitted that the team defended poorly in the first period.

"We could have defended the goal they scored better. We defended too deep and James had difficulty reacting with players running across him.

"They had two big, big chances in the first half and missed twice. Maybe 1-0 was a fair result at half time.

"But in the second half we did very well and I am proud of the England team.

"We pushed Slovakia deeper, closer to their own box and scored two goals. To have a performance like that at the end of a long season showed excellent spirit."

Everton teenager Wayne Rooney failed to set the game alight and was replaced by Darius Vassell in the second half, but Eriksson refused to criticise the youngster and insisted he was certain to be a talent of the future.

"I'm happy with Rooney.

"The fans and the critics expect Rooney to be the best on the pitch every time he plays.

"But we have not to forget that he is only 17. He has to learn. He is one of the biggest talents I've ever had."