Fowler did not feature during England's qualifying campaign for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, mainly due to a serious knee ligament injury,[REF][REF] and thus missed out on Glenn Hoddle's 22-man squad for the tournament [REF].
On 9 June 1999, Fowler played in his first competitive game for England in nearly three years,[REF] starting in the 1-1 draw with Bulgaria during Euro 2000 qualifying [REF].