Ashley Cole makes hard work of Wembley warm-up...then snubs Capello

By Mike Walters

Published 22:40 08/08/10

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Poor Ashley Cole - three consecutive words you don’t read often these days - didn’t just lose his wife this summer.

In 79 minutes of early-season torture, he lost Manchester United winger Antonio Valencia countless times, and the Ecuadorian flyer enjoyed a field day at the Community Shield.

Now, dare we ask, is Cole falling out with Fabio Capello?

Surely not - although at the post-match presentation ceremony, he seemed to be so lost in his personal malaise that he appeared to ignore the outstretched hand of Three Lions coach Capello in the Royal Box.

In truth, Capello will be more concerned this morning with Cole’s oven-readiness to start Wednesday night’s friendly against Hungary than public displays of chumminess with his players.

And when Valenica - who had not scored since December 30 - arrived to convert Wayne Rooney’s superb low cross four minutes before the break, it would be charitable to suggest Cole was in the same post code as the man he was nominally marking.

Later, Chelsea’s unloved defender afforded Valencia another hectare of freedom, leaving the barn door wide open for Javier Hernandez to begin his United account in memorably slapstick fashion.

If it was merciful relief when Cole was withdrawn three minutes later, he must return to Wembley in 48 hours to face the people’s jury as they pass judgement on England’s World Cup flop. Their verdict is unlikely to make easy listening.

England have not been jeered off at home since the night Steve McClaren became the hapless wally with a brolly in 2007, but on Wednesday they could achieve the unusual feat of being booed ON to the pitch after the dreadful 4-1 thrashing by Germany six weeks ago.

In fairness, Cole was not England’s worst player in that seismic wake-up call from the Fatherland on June 27. Not by a long Bratwurst.

But he has brought much of a nation’s disdain on himself, most recently by living it up with the slapperati in Los Angeles while his estranged wife, the blessed Chezza, lay seriously ill in hospital with malaria.

Nor was his comment on the people who fly the fly in his name - “I hate England and the f****** people” - the stuff of winning popularity contests.

And now that Jose Mourinho has slammed the door, for now, on his dream move to Real Madrid, Cole will have to live with the fall-out of an unhappy few months.

As a footballer, he remains one of the best left-backs in the world and he is still held in the highest regard at Chelsea, who will surely not pitch up for the defence of their Premier League title against promoted West Brom next Saturday more undercooked than steak tartare.

Ever since Kevin Keegan and Billy Bremner’s punch-up at the Charity Shield, as it was known before the fixture became a trade fair, the traditional curtain-raiser has become increasingly meaningless and an unreliable form guide.

But four consecutive defeats, even if three of them were pre-season strolls on the continent and the other was this low-octane affair, will do nothing to dispel doubts that Carlo Ancelotti is presiding over an ageing team.

The Charity Shield, or whatever the marketing men call it these days, has gone. But in the Champions League, for Ancelotti’s team of thirty-somethings, it is now or never.

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