When the England team disembark into the South African sunshine in a little under two months time, I hope one player in particular is on board that plane.

For all the hype surrounding Rooney, Gerrard and a certain Achilles heel (or lack of it), one player in particular should be ignored by England’s opposition at their peril.

Spotted at the age of 11 and catapulted onto the nations radar after scoring 7 goals in an 8-0 mauling of Spain at school boy level, there is no denying Joe Cole is an outrageous talent. Tipped to fill the huge boots left by a certain Paul Gascoigne, a multi-million pound move to Chelsea, fine form and solid performances in the 2006 qualifying campaign, resulted in a starting birth for the 2006 world cup and that goal against Sweden. But in recent seasons, ‘Chez Cole’ has gone quite. A series of serious injuries and a lack of faith from several managers has not helped his cause, but the arrival of Carlo Ancelotti and a switch to a role inside seems to have stirred the beast.

Mourinho never denied the talent, and much like Eriksson for the national side, dwelled on his versatility across the final third of the pitch to fill positions shared with more naturally adept attackers (e.g. Robben, Duff and latterly Malouda).       For England its been filling a void on the left side of a four man midfield, a saga that seems older than the lightning seeds, and shows no sign of letting up ever since Ryan Giggs defection to the Welsh.

Cole I feel is far from the candidate. He’s much more important than that.

Cole possess the creativity, skill and flair the team in 2006 so badly lacked (At the same stage before elimination in the quarter finals England had scored 6 compared to eventual top scorers Germany’s 11…yes Germany)

I’m not going to pretend I’m the next managerial messiah, and start spilling analogies about omelettes and Waitrose (after all this isn’t Football Manager) but I do see a correlation (not regarding omelettes).

The Italian invasion of our shores has brought with it an ‘ideology’ we as football fans have fallen in love with, one most of us mortals try to recreate on a Saturday afternoon in the car park, or at work with the fax containing the company pension schemes.

The role of ‘10’

Few managers on these shores have implemented it with any real success. The two major exceptions being Ferguson (Sheringham) and Wenger (Bergkamp). If England are to compete this summer, then diversity is going to be key, and we have the tools. The arrival of Capello is half the battle. Capello has always enforced playing very controlled and disciplined football, leaving the creative input of the team to the flanks and the ‘10’ behind the main striker (Totti at Roma, Del Piero at Juve & Raul at Madrid). 

With two solid midfielders in front of the back four, most likely Barry and Lampard, and Gerrard lending support from the left, Cole could flourish. A sublime first touch, brilliant vision and the ability to beat 4 men in a square yard (see youtube against Man Utd) has been supplemented over the years with a discipline, determination and work rate to match. No longer is he considered the ‘luxury player’ he was once described.

Steel has been added to the soft leather.

I firmly believe the sky is literally the limit for the little maverick from Campden, but his fitness and own measure of success will determine just what heights he and England reach. If England are to succeed, they cannot rely one man, but they could use another hero. After all, it is the World Cup 2010