Striker Michael Owen [Images], who will captain England [Images] in Wednesday's final World Cup qualifier against Poland, admits his team have been poor and lack confidence.

Saturday's 1-0 win over Austria in Manchester, secured despite a red card for skipper David Beckham [Images], helped England qualify for the finals after a season littered with defeats and miserable performances.

"There is no hiding the fact that we have been below par," Owen said in a Times newspaper column on Monday as he prepared for the game at Old Trafford.

"The competitive results have been decent enough -- seven wins, one draw, one loss.

"No one can say we did not deserve to qualify, but I would say we have done 20 percent of the work towards lifting the trophy. The other 80 starts now."

Saturday's win followed two humiliating defeats -- a 4-1 friendly thrashing by Denmark and a shock 1-0 loss to Northern Ireland -- either side of a highly unconvincing 1-0 win over Wales.

"We have to push on," Owen said. "We have to get the confidence that has been missing in recent games. We have to start playing like contenders for the World Cup."

Owen said that manager Sven-Goran Eriksson had told his men before Saturday they had not been willing to suffer together when the team got into trouble.

"It needed saying, even if we all knew it deep down, and I think you saw the response on Saturday in the way that we rallied after David Beckham was sent off," said the striker.

"We were shouting encouragement at each other and working our socks off."

POOR ENGLAND

Owen wants an improvement, though, when England take on the Poles, looking for a win that would put them top of Group Six.

"We have been poor, but I hope we can now relax and play better football, starting on Wednesday against Poland.

"We have to build momentum over the next five games and eight months before we fly to Germany [Images].

"We don't have to play like world champions straight away, but we have to play with more freedom and confidence."

Once at the finals, an optimistic Owen said he would not settle for finishing with an honourable place in the semi-finals.

"We will go there with a squad that, apart from Brazil [Images] maybe, I'm not sure is bettered," he said, before once again underlining his team's recent failings.

"The country is entitled to see better than we have given them so far."

• Complete football coverage