10 years ago today a schoolboy called Owen scored the England winner against a Brazilian called Ronaldinho. Heres the whole tooth about that day.

Ten Years ago they were on the top of the world together – but now they are on different planets.

 When a youthful Michael Owen scored the winner as England schoolboys beat Brazil 1-0 at Wembley in 1995 it was seen as a new dawn and one which hopefully would have a golden tinge for the national side at the 2002 World Cup Finals.

As well as the prolific Owen up front, who broke the schoolboys’ goalscoring record that season, the team also boasted Michael Ball at left back and Wes Brown at centre half. Then there was Jamie Day and Steve Haslam.

Brazil also had a future star in their side – a buck-toothed forward called Ronaldo, who would become better known to the world as Ronaldinho.

Ronaldinho and Owen met again seven years later in Japan, but this time the outcome was reversed as the current World Player of the Year scored the goal to take brazil through to the World Cup Semi-Finals. Don Howe worked with England’s class of ’96 in his former role as the FA’s coaching co-ordinator and he recalls that they were one of the best groups to come through.

Great things were expected from that team, but while Owen is a star on the world stage with England and Real Madrid, several of his old team mates are playing non-league football with the likes of Alfreton Town and Ashford Town. Howe says this is inevitable in any schoolboy side and he claims three internationals is not a bad return from their two years’ coaching at Lilleshall.

“Even back then, you could tell that Michael, Brownie and Bally were going to be great players” said Howe.  “Michael would always score, you could rely on him to score you three in a match. He had bags of natural talent and he was so quick that defenders couldn’t live with him. He showed his predatory skills when he scored against Brazil and that was a great day for all those lads. For many, it was probably the highlight of their careers to be Brazil at Wembley and some of them have ended up in the non-leagues, but that happens with any group of players. We told them when they came to Lilleshall at the start of their two years that some would make it to the top, some would be able to earn a living as players, while the rest would not make it” “That’s what happened with that group, although you have to say that three full England Internationals from one schoolboy team is not a bad return.”

Day, who played centre midfield that day against Brazil is one of those who saw his dreams of becoming a premiership star turn to dust.  After failing to make the breakthrough at Arsenal, he joined Bournemouth in 1999 and now plays part-time with Welling United in the Conference South. Day, who also works as a community officer for Charlton, can see he wasn’t good enough to make it to the top, but he does admit to feeling just a little bit envious of his old pals Owen and Brown.

“The problem with footballers is that they all develop at different rates” he says When I look back at myself as a schoolboy, I probably peaked at 15 or 16. The lads who were younger than me were then able to overtake me, while someone exceptional like Michael just carried on improving to become the world-class player he is now. If I’m being critical of myself, I probably could have worked harder, but I was never the quickest player and I think in today’s game you must have pace.

“There’s also the factor of being in the right place at the right time to get the breaks. If you combine all that, then that’s why it never happened for me. I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t a little jealous of where Michael and Wes are now, but the most important thing for me is that I enjoy my football.”

Haslam, who played at centre half for the schoolboys appeared in the premiership with Sheffield Wednesday before joining Conference promotion contenders Halifax last summer and he remember how at 15 they all thought they were going to make it.

“At 15 everybody dreams of playing Champions League football and of being a star, but you don’t really appreciate the high percentage of players who don’t make it” he said. “At 15 you have still got a long way to go to make it as a footballer and those years up to 21 are the easily the most difficult. You don’t really understand that at that age. But in saying that, as well as Michael, Wes and Bally a few of us played league football so it wasn’t a bad group at all”

By David Anderson – The Mirror