Beckham blow opens the door for England's left-sided trio

By Martin Lipton in Mirror Football Blog

Published 17:50 15/03/10

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As the World Cup door slammed shut on David Beckham, opportunity knocked for others.

And while Fabio Capello admitted his sadness at losing one of the key components of his plans for South Africa, the England boss will expect those who have their chance to benefit from Beckham’s heartbreak to show they are ready to step through the open portal.

For four players in particular, Beckham’s anguish represents their chances, either to confirm their status in Capello’s eyes, or make him blink and take another look at him.

Arguably, the man who can now take the fullest advantage is one who would have been a shoe-in to be an England certainty not too long ago.

In September 2007, Joe Cole came off the bench in Barcelona to score both the goals against Andorra to get Capello’s competitive reign off to a winning start, before playing a key role in the pivotal victory over Croatia in Zagreb four days later.

That game, incredibly, was the last time Cole wore an England shirt, the victim of minor knocks, last January’s cruciate knee ligament injury and then a failure to find his form under new Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti.

Just a fortnight ago, Capello admitted that Cole was simply not playing well enough to earn a place in his squad for South Africa, a message that appears to have hit home.

Indeed, Ancelotti revealed last night, in words that will have been music to Capello’s ears, that Cole’s response to the demand for more endeavour from his national boss saw the midfielder skip the chance for a rest.

“Joe works hard every day,” said Ancelotti. “Last week, after the match against Stoke, we all had a day off.

“But instead, Joe came to the training ground and worked on his game.

“That was great to see and shows a very good, very good, strong mentality. So he doesn’t need to impress me. I hope Capello puts him in the squad.”

Alongside Cole, others now have the onus on them to deliver.

Capello is desperate to utilise Theo Walcott’s raw pace and despite the disappointing display the Arsenal flier gave in the win over Egypt two weeks ago, he can now be pretty much guaranteed to travel to South Africa, either as the first choice right-sider or the understudy to the currently injured Aaron Lennon, for whom time is running out.

In that Egpyt game, Shaun Wright-Phillips could not have done more to bolster his cause, creating Peter Crouch’s equaliser with a burst of acceleration and impressive cut-back, before rifling home his third goal for the Italian to put England in front.

Capello hinted in the aftermath that he could see Wright-Phillips as an option on the left flank and certainly if Lennon is not fit, Beckham’s absence surely puts the Manchester City man on the plane.

But arguably the man who could end up benefiting most is the player who has made Capello sit up and take notice of his versatility and performances, even though he will not start the opening match against the USA.

James Milner knows he will travel to the World Cup with the chance of becoming the David Platt of the new generation - the Aston Villa man who steps from the shadows and makes himself an England mainstay.

Just like Platt in 1990, Milner will be a squad member who can play in a variety of positions. For him, like the others, they must now show they have what it takes to prove that one man’s misfortune remains another’s glorious chance.

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