The FA know all about young Mr Hargreaves

13 April 2012

A young Englishman took a starring role as Bayern Munich beat Real Madrid in the European Champions League semi-final.

But while the millions watching the game on TV in this country were asking: "Who is he?", officials at the Football Association were congratulating themselves on already knowing the answer.

Owen Hargreaves grew up in Canada, but has been in Germany for four years and has only ever played for Bayern.

However, he has already been capped by England's Under-21s and, although in theory he could still opt to play for Wales, Canada or Germany, FA staff are sure that he only wants to play for England.

The 20-year-old midfielder was born to a Welsh mother and an English father in Calgary, Canada.

His dad Colin is a Bolton Wanderers fanatic, and while their school friends favoured basketball or ice hockey, Owen and elder brother Dan played football with local team Calgary Foothills and watched Premiership highlights with their dad on television

Dan was offered YTS terms by Bolton, but turned down the chance.

However, a Canadian-based German coach arranged a trial for Owen at Bayern when he was 16. They offered him a contract, and he emigrated to Germany.

He could play for Wales because of his mother or Canada because he has Canadian citizenship. If he applied for German citizenship, he would almost certainly get it and be able to play for them.

His two Under-21 caps were in friendlies, so until and unless he plays in a competitive game he still has all his options open - but he says he wants to play for England. Wales manager Mark Hughes tried to persuade Hargreaves to play for them.

But England Under-21 manager Howard Wilkinson said: "We heard about him from an English scout working on the Continent, an English punter in Germany and a German reporter. We decided to have him over."

Wilkinson invited him to play for the Under-21 team in a 6-1 friendly win against Georgia at Middlesbrough's Riverside Stadium in September.

He also played in the match against the Italian Under-21s in Monza, which was abandoned after 10 minutes because of fog. Hargreaves said: "There were always going to be people criticising whatever choice I made.

"As I was brought up in Canada, everyone back home believes that is who I should play for.

"But I have always considered myself British because of my parents and it would be a great honour to play for England.

"My dad is a mad keen Bolton fan and we used to watch the English league on television."

His mum Margaret added: "We will support Owen no matter what he decides.

"We would support him first and our respective countries second."

Hargreaves, who was unable to speak any German when he moved to Munich, still has two years of his Bayern contract to run.

He replaced suspended German international Stefan Effenberg last night.

Coach Ottmar Hitzfeld admitted: "I threw him in at the deep end and he swam about freely."

Real Madrid coach Vicente del Bosque paid tribute to Bayern Munich.

The European champions surrendered their crown after losing their semi-final, second leg 2-1 for a 3-1 aggregate defeat.

Real's loss in Germany means there will not be a repeat of last year's final when they beat Valencia.

Del Bosque said: "I congratulate Bayern. With the game at 1-1, there were moments when we came close to scoring but Jens Jeremies's goal was the key."

Bayern president Franz Beckenbauer said: "Any team that knocks out Manchester United and Real Madrid earns the right to be in the final."

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