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"From Soccernet" England have a new saviour, and his name is Michael Owen. Forget Alan Shearer and his captain's claim to be national hero.
Owen struck two minutes before half time to give Sven Goran Eriksson his sixth win in seven matches and a 100 per cent record in World Cup qualifying since his appointment last January.
After the mastery of Munich came the nemesis in Newcastle. They still sing Shearer's name as the country's best striker in the north east, but against Albania Tyneside was dancing to a different tune. Owen has become what he set out to be - Shearer's natural successor.
He terrified Argentina at France 98, and still there were those who cried flash in the pan.
But after Owen's performance against Germany last weekend, another match-winning performance in front of his former England captain seemed inevitable. Owen, as expected, delivered.
When Robbie Fowler added a second two minutes from time, it brought England level on points with Germany at the top of Group Nine but with a six-goal advantage.
England were unchanged and, unlike during their trip to Tirana in March, undaunted. The team who had started started so slowly in Munich began with a whirlwind in Newcastle.
Last Saturday's slovenliness left Eriksson wondering why his team seem to need 15 minutes to get to grips with the pace. But here it was Albania who were left breathless by their opponents.
After four minutes, Gary Neville galloped down the right, picked out Owen who had made a piercing diagonal run and set himself in the kind of position where you just know he is going to score.
He would have but for the intervention of Arjan Xhumba and goalkeeper Fotaq Strakosha. The claim for a penalty must have been heard in Gateshead but referee Juan Marin took a long look and signalled a corner.
Though fortune favoured Albania on that occasion, the build- up was merely a taste of what was to come. Steven Gerrard has developed an almost clairvoyant understanding of Owen's ability to carve up defences and minutes later he picked him out with a sliding pass to the edge of the area.
One touch inside took Owen past Xhumba and he squared himself for a cross to Emile Heskey. The pass did not quite find its target but neither did the clearance reach safety. Gerrard whipped a cross to the back post where Barmby arrived on time to head wide when he should have hit the target.
The Liverpool winger had a relatively quiet night against Germany but with Albania determined to sit very deep and let England come at them, he decided to rattle the right back with a mazy dribble.
Once against the centre was good but not matched by an England finish. Albania, by giving Eriksson's men 11 players to beat rather than just the hapless German back three, had got the tactics right where the most illustrious member of the group failed miserably.
They even managed to cause some panic at the other end when Edvin Murati sent a harmless-looking punt into the box and Ashley Cole brought down Nevil Dede, who had sneaked round his blind side.
It looked like a penalty but the gods and, more importantly, the match officials, smiled on Eriksson.
David Beckham quickly attempted to re-establish the supply line to Owen and a free kick found him in an unusual amount of space. Unusually, Owen headed wide of the post.
After Saturday's historic hat-trick, the sight of Owen failing to threaten the goal was strange. Another toe-poke moments later went wide but there was still a feeling that this would be another glory night for the nation's latest hero.
No goals, no panic. It is an unusual combination when England have to win but this team have developed a keen patience to match their self-belief.
Paul Scholes had managed to dig a couple of efforts into the ground and half-time was looming when the collective tension of the capacity crowd was relieved with a single touch of the ball.
Rio Ferdinand found Scholes, who in turn spotted Owen's crafty run between two defenders. Tracking the pass through the night air, Owen allowed the ball to glide softly and surely off of the outside of his right boot to nestle in the back of the net.
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