It may have been Joe Cole who attracted most of the attention dispelling memories of his days

It may have been Joe Cole who attracted most of the attention, dispelling memories of his days as a performing seal with a fine display against Uruguay, but 24 hours earlier another maligned 24-year-old had highlighted his claims for a place at the World Cup with a stellar display in west London. Almost as much as in England, football in Trinidad and Tobago has been tormented by a strange dearth of left-footers. Right-footers have been coerced into the position, formations have been mangled, but in the 2-0 victory over Iceland at Loftus Road, Dundee United’s Collin Samuel, a bona fide left-footer, did every-thing he could to suggest he should fill the vacancy at the World Cup finals. He set up the first goal for Dwight Yorke with a rapid burst and fine cross, and then it was in chasing his deftly flighted ball that Stern John was bundled over, resulting in the penalty from which Yorke scored his second.. The only shooting practice for Sweden ahead of their World Cup warm-up fixture against the Republic of Ireland was at the end of a photographer’s lens. Having reached the finals, they used the four-day gathering in Dublin as a way of working out how they will actually get to Germany. Logistics, details of when each player’s season ends, flight timetables, hotel reservations and training camp information were pored over instead of tactics and team play.

The preparations also included autograph-signing sessions for tournament merchandising – and a photo-shoot for their official pictures. It’s why the injured Fredrik Ljungberg stayed on until the eve of the game

The Irish were hardly discussed at all And it showed. A 3-0 defeat at the hands of a vibrant and resurgent side managed, for the first time, by Steve Staunton was deserved But, even so, it was a shock Among the most surprised was the midfielder Anders Svensson “They outran us, they outskilled us,” he said of the Irish “It’s a tough lesson. And there’s still a lot of work to do to get this team ready for the World Cup.”.

As an indicator of a country’s footballing pedigree, being landlocked between Argentina and Brazil is one thing; being deadlocked by Wales is something else entirely. Nevertheless, there was plenty in Paraguay’s performance in Cardiff to confirm that England’s first World Cup test in Frankfurt on 10 June will be anything but a formality

A certain Ryan Giggs was willing to testify to that. “If England take this lot lightly or don’t perform then they will find it very, very difficult,” warned the Welsh captain from the bowels of the Millennium Stadium an hour after his side had escaped with a goalless draw. “Technically, the Paraguayans are very good; they keep the ball well and are very organised at the back, with a real keenness to go forward. But then any team coming out of that South American group are going to be decent, aren’t they? And I’m sure the English boys will be well aware of it.”. As we sat though another interminable England Sven-dly at a chill Anfield on Wednesday night, contemplating that certain of the England coach’s peripheral players are no more potential World Cup winners than the actor Daniel Craig is a credible James Bond, thoughts drifted back to another tournament warm-up, pre-Japan and South Korea

Elland Road, 27 March 2002 Result: England 1 Italy 2. It was a night when the performance of Joe Cole, then aged 20, was both intoxicating and infuriating.

It had been his dash into enemy territory and exemplary lay-off that fashioned Robbie Fowler’s second-half goal. Conversely, it had been the then West Ham midfielder who had displayed a lack of concentration, conceding possession in his own half which contributed to Vincenzo Montella’s equaliser. Even that steadfast loyalist Sven Goran Eriksson did not absent himself from Cole’s excoriation. Here was an Artful Dodger who was endowed with exceptional cunning, but could he be trusted around the established landed gentry of England football?. Suddenly, time is tight for England and their head coach, and lingering problems are causing even the most relaxed brow to furrow. Whether or not Fifa agree to extend the deadline for the naming of World Cup squads by as much as a fortnight, the die will have to be cast before Sven Goran Eriksson’s final two warm-up matches, at Old Trafford against Hungary on 30 May and Jamaica on 2 June.

Where Alf Ramsey had eight internationals in the first half of 1966 before setting out to win the World Cup (and, contrary to received wisdom, was still tinkering with tactics and personnel well into the tournament), Eriksson has been granted three. While it is therefore just as well that his preferred team has been known for so long, last Wednesday’s fixture with Uruguay marked the end of any experimentation as well as offering an uncomfortable reminder that not a single one of the chosen XI he put forward last November can be guaranteed fitness.. World football’s governing body, Fifa, are expected to turn down a request from Sven Goran Eriksson to be allowed to use more than six substitutes in England’s two remaining matches before the World Cup. He therefore wants to play a B international in London during the preceding week, the first time such a fixture would have been staged in eight years. Having fought so hard to obtain a gap of five weeks between the final Premiership games on Sunday 7 May and the start of the tournament, head coach Eriksson is now concerned that some of the reserves in his squad will become too ring-rusty.. If they put their mind to it, those of a certain age and affiliation can still hear that familiar refrain rolling off the Shed, adapted from The First No? “Born is the k-i-ing of Stamford Bridge”. The subject would respond by flourishing a wave; his old-fashioned features, bordered by those absurdly abundant sideburns synonymous with the period, breaking into an impudent grin

Peter Osgood.