Owen out of Turkey tie

Shin injury
The Liverpool FC forward picked up a shin injury in last weekend's 2-1 defeat by Arsenal FC and, although he was named in Sven-Göran Eriksson's squad on Tuesday, he has failed to recover and will not fly out to Istanbul with the rest of the party.

'Constant treatment'
"Over the last three days he has received constant treatment from the England medical team, who have been in constant dialogue with the medical team at Liverpool," said the Football Association's head of media relations, Adrian Bevington. "While Michael has made good progress, he will not be fit enough to take part in Saturday's match and so he will return to his club for future treatment."

Panucci withdrawal
Meanwhile, Italy will be missing Christian Panucci for their final qualifier against Azerbaijan. The AS Roma defender limped out of training on Wednesday after falling awkwardly during a practice match, and it was later revealed that he had sprained his left ankle.

Oddo choice
Italy coach Giovanni Trapattoni has called AC Milan full-back Giuseppe Pancaro into his squad as a replacement, though S.S. Lazio defender Massimo Oddo is expected to deputise for Panucci on Saturday. Italy need three points against Azerbaijan in Reggio Calabria to be sure of finishing top of Group 9.

Striking setback
Their opponents, Azerbaijan, will be without their first-choice strike partnership. Farrukh Ismaylov is absent after being involved in a car crash in Baku. The 25-year-old FC Volyn Lutsk forward will be sidelined for two to three weeks with broken ribs. Gurban Gurbanov is also unavailable with a back problem. Defender Ramiz Mamedov has been added to the squad.

Savage problem
Still in Group 9, Wales manager Mark Hughes has lost midfielder Robbie Savage to an achilles tendon injury. The problem kept Savage out of Birmingham City FC's game last Saturday and the player has been unable to train for more than a week.

Defensive worries
Hungary could be deprived of defenders Csaba Fehér and Zsolt Löw for their Group 4 encounter with Poland - a match both sides must win to have any hope of overhauling second-placed Latvia. Another country whose qualification hopes hang in the balance, Belgium, have doubts over full-back Jelle Van Damme ahead of their Group 8 meeting with Estonia. The AFC Ajax defender slipped in a swimming pool and damaged his heel.

Desailly out
France captain Marcel Desailly has been ruled out of the Group 1 leaders' game against Israel with a hip injury, coach Jacques Santini confirmed on Thursday. "Zinedine [Zidane] will captain our team," Santini said, before adding that a decision would be made on the fitness of William Gallas on Saturday.

Czechs under strength
The Czech Republic, winners of Group 3, will be without six regulars against Austria. Long-term casualties Tomáš Rosický and Milan Baroš, and the suspended Karel Poborský and Tomáš Ujfaluši, have been joined on the sidelines by two other players. Liverpool forward Vladimír Šmicer has an achilles problem while a thigh muscle injury has ruled out Ajax defender Zdenek Grygera. SK Slavia Praha defender Adam Petrous and FK Teplice midfield player Petr Vorísek have been named as replacements.

Danish doubt
Finally, Group 2 leaders Denmark have question marks against the fitness of midfield player Morten Wieghorst ahead of their trip to Bosnia-Herzegovina. The 32-year-old has not trained for two days because of a knee strain. "Wieghorst has a slight irritation in his left knee but we hope he can train on Thursday," said Denmark team doctor Mogens Kreutzfeldt.