Ashley Cole's experience should see him board the plane, but Roy Hodgson has bigger problems to solve after another insipid England showing

 
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6 March 2014

This week there has been much excitement generated over the fact there are now less than 100 days before the start of the World Cup in Brazil.

There is certainly a lot to look forward to with so many great teams and players to watch this summer, but England certainly don’t look like they will be one of them.

This friendly against Denmark was the last before coach Roy Hodgson names his provisional squad on May 13th and after another insipid display at home, supporters were merely counting down the minutes to the final whistle.

England haven’t scored since they qualified for the competition last October, having already lost to Chile and Germany in November and it took a late header from Daniel Sturridge to end the drought.

Before then Danny Welbeck and Raheem Sterling had also come close, but Denmark also threatened to inflict a third successive home defeat, which would have been for the first time in 142 years, however there was some fine last ditch defending by Gary Cahill and keeper Joe Hart.

Apart from a promising showing by Sterling, the only other beneficial part of the evening was seeing left backs Ashley Cole and Luke Shaw go head-to-head for what is surely going to be one spot on the plane to South America in June as Leighton Baines has already secured his.

Both played a half each and the contrast in their profiles couldn’t be more acute. Whereas Cole earned his 107th cap for his country, Shaw came on in the second half to make his debut.

While the former hasn’t played for Chelsea since January 26th against Stoke, Shaw has been a first team regular for Southampton all season. The fact that 15 years separate them too was another thing to take note of.

England player ratings (England v Denmark)

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Cole had the first opportunity to make an impression and he certainly looked surprisingly fit for someone who has been used so sparingly by Jose Mourinho at Stamford Bridge.

He may have only played the first 45 minutes, yet he was constantly racing up and down the left flank to help out in defence and attack.

The 24th minute would have made good viewing for Hodgson as seconds after heading the ball back into Hart’s arms at one end, he was winning a corner at the other.

Cole also created England’s best chance of the first half, running on to Wayne Rooney’s pass to cross for Sterling, who somehow hit the post from six yards.

Shaw wasn’t intimidated by Cole’s display though and after some encouraging hugs from Adam Lallana, Michael Carrick and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, walked out on to the Wembley turf at the start of the second half with purpose.

There were no signs of fear as he controlled a long ball by captain Steven Gerrard with his first touch and moments later went on a surging run through the heart of Denmark’s midfield, with his pace clear for everyone to see.

Another fine cross looked menacing and you could see just why he is being tipped to be Cole’s long-term replacement at England and Chelsea.

One suspects Cole’s greater experience will earn him the nod in May, but Hodgson has much bigger questions to answer and many problems to solve if England aren’t going to have a brief stay in Brazil this summer.

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