"I never understood why. I was at least waiting for an explanations but Capello never talked to me," the Newcastle striker told the Sun.

Capello used Owen in his first game as England boss and it was a big surprise seeing him dropped from this game.

An England insider said: "Michael was stunned by what happened. He can’t understand what he has done wrong."

"He thought he would feature at some point. Michael at least expected a run-out as sub and couldn’t believe it when the likes of Peter Crouch and Shaun Wright- Phillips went on and he was never called.

Owen is hoping to recover his top form as he has been struggling with injuries over the past few seasons.