The manager will no doubt point to the injury problems that have limited Owen to just one start so far this season.
But the decision looks like madness when it leaves England going into two crucial World Cup qualifiers against Andorra and, more importantly, Croatia with just Wayne Rooney, Jermain Defoe, Emile Heskey and Theo Walcott as strikers.
While Owen has scored 40 goals in his 89 internationals, many of them in critical games, the strikers Capello has chosen to take to Barcelona and Zagreb have managed a combined total of just 24 goals in 119 England appearances.
Although Owen is short of match fitness - against Arsenal on Saturday he played for 90 minutes but in an under-performing Newcastle United side looked tired towards the end - he proved in the two previous games that he had not lost his eye for goal.
And those two strikes in two matches as a substitute have persuaded Newcastle to offer him a new £120,000-a-week contract - and they should have been enough to secure him a place in Capello's squad.
Owen can only hope it is purely for fitness reasons that he has been left out, although he was understood to be stunned by the decision.
Capello declined the opportunity to explain his thinking last night although he is understood to have been unimpressed by comments Owen made after a frustrating performance against France last season.
Baffled by Capello's tactics, Owen said: 'In terms of what we were trying to do, you'd better ask the manager.'
Any England team should be capable of beating Andorra. Even one with Bullard.
But an encounter with the Croatia team who eliminated England from the European Championship is one Capello cannot afford to lose if he wants a smooth passage to the World Cup finals in South Africa.
Capello might have been stunned by an apparent lack of support from leading Premier League managers in the last few days but he now fails to help himself, so surprising is the absence of Owen.
The Italian could have used Andorra to help Owen regain his fitness and then unleash him against Croatia.
Not only would that boost an England team badly lacking in confidence, it would also worry a Croatia side who, because of injury, did not have to face England's finest goalscorer in the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign. Just as surprising as Owen's omission is the inclusion of Bullard.
Capello is short of midfielders because of injuries to Steven Gerrard, Owen Hargreaves and Michael Carrick but Fulham's likeable middle man probably never imagined he would receive a callup, even if he was excellent for Fulham in last week's win over Arsenal.
Bullard once described his move from Dartford to Gravesend as the most significant of his career, and Swindon v Peterborough his biggest game prior to the 2006 Carling Cup Final for Wigan against Manchester United.
Until last night, he probably thought he had more chance of representing England as an angler - he is an outstanding carp fisherman - than a footballer.
A glance through the squad and there are other surprises.
Joe Hart has been axed as the third goalkeeper and there is no place at centre half for Jonathan Woodgate, even though he was terrific for Tottenham against Chelsea yesterday.
Two goals by Defoe for Portsmouth at Everton on Saturday may suggest he is running into form.
However, in Capello's last game - the 2-2 draw with the Czech Republic at Wembley - the Pompey striker looked seriously out of his depth.
Owen's exclusion came at the end of a day when Newcastle heaped pressure on their captain to accept a new contract after unexpectedly announcing what the club claim is an improved three-year deal.
However, the move could yet backfire with the striker and his representatives upset with Newcastle's decision to make the offer public before approaching them.
England squad to play Andorra in Barcelona on September 6 and Croatia in Zagreb on September 10:
Robinson (Blackburn), James (Portsmouth), Green (West Ham); Lescott (Everton), Bridge (Chelsea), A Cole (Chelsea), Terry (Chelsea), Brown (Manchester United), Ferdinand (Manchester United), Johnson (Portsmouth), Upson (West Ham); Barry (Aston Villa), J Cole (Chelsea), Lampard (Chelsea), Bullard (Fulham), Beckham (Los Angeles Galaxy), Downing (Middlesbrough), Bentley (Tottenham), Jenas (Tottenham); Walcott (Arsenal), Rooney (Manchester United), Defoe (Portsmouth), Heskey (Wigan).
