England's Michael Owen talks to the media after training at their World Cup 2006 soccer training camp near Baden-Baden, June 18, 2006. [Reuters]

Michael Owen isn't panicking about his lack of World Cup goals so far. He knows they'll come.

"I don't feel as if I'm playing poorly, tripping over the ball every time I get it or giving the ball away or anything like that," Owen said Sunday. "I just haven't scored.

"I've had dry spells that have lasted longer than two 55 minutes so there's no panic from me. I'm sure if I've got the chance, I'll score goals."

Owen has been substituted in England's opening two World Cup games, a 1-0 win over Paraguay and a 2-0 victory over Trinidad and Tobago, both before the hour mark.

Owen is likely to start in England's final group game against Sweden on Tuesday and could even be paired with Wayne Rooney. That would give Rooney, who is returning from a broken foot sustained April 29, more match fitness and allow England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson to rest Peter Crouch, who is on a yellow card.

"Wayne's been out six weeks, he's been training for a while now and played half-an-hour the other day," Owen said. "It's a natural progression forward, to keep playing him a bit more.

"I feel as if I'm playing all right, feeling like I'm coming into a little bit of form, feeling good in training. It's not a confidence thing, there's a belief about me because I've done it before."

Owen points out he didn't score in the group stage at the 2002 World Cup or at the 2004 European Championship but netted later in those tournaments. He's also dismissive of criticism of his form.

"I've seen it all before, with players like (former England strikers) Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer, who got criticized," he said. "You've got to criticize someone, so it might as well be me, I've got broad shoulders."

"Unfortunately I've been out for a large part of the season so it's inevitable I'm not going to naturally be on top of my game straight way."

Owen broke a bone in his foot on December 31 and only fully returned last month. He's only completed one full match, a 6-0 warmup win over Jamaica on June 3.

The 26-year-old Owen has scored 36 goals in 79 international appearances and has been a an England regular since he rose to prominence at the 1998 World Cup, where he scored a spectacular solo goal against Argentina.

"I'm not a player like Wayne who's involved all the time," Owen said. "My job is to get into the box and if there's balls in the box, I'm totally confident in myself that I can finish them off."