The Hindu : Sport : Joe Cole the creator shuns stardom

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Wednesday, Jun 14, 2006

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Sport

Joe Cole the creator shuns stardom

Richard Williams

I just want to play football and help England win a few games, says the Chelsea midfielder

BADEN-BADEN: When Joe Cole shakes hands with Shaka Hislop before kick-off in Nuremberg on Thursday, he will think back to the time, getting on for a decade ago, when they were teammates at Upton Park and the Trinidad & Tobago goalkeeper, already an experienced professional, helped to ease the English prodigy's youthful anxieties.

"Shaka was a diamond for me when I was coming through at West Ham," Cole said this week. "He was like an old head on... well, on old shoulders. He made me feel welcome when I got into the first-team squad and he used to look after me a lot. He's a top man. Whoever you ask in football will tell you that he's a great guy."

On Saturday, a few hours after England's laboured victory over Paraguay, the 37-year-old Hislop became the hero when a string of courageous saves helped secure a goalless draw against Sweden. "I was pleased for him," Cole continued. "He had a great game and it was great for him because he's had a long career and to go to the World Cup with his team is a marvellous thing."

Great expectations

Such generosity towards a fellow professional is characteristic of the 24-year-old north Londoner, as is the honest admission that there have been times when he needed an arm round his shoulders. As a schoolboy starlet with a repertoire of dazzling tricks, he grew up feeling the pressure of other people's ambitions for him. Eventually he became the victim of his own ability, seemingly condemned to search for a role in an English game that continues to look with suspicion upon virtuosity when it is accompanied by the slightest hint of vulnerability.

A modest and enthusiastic character, Cole has been subjected to criticism — well-meaning and otherwise — for so long that it has turned him off the whole notion of becoming a star.

Glenn Roeder — whom he cites as the most profound influence on his professional career — recognised his wholeheartedness and altruism when he gave the 20-year-old the captain's armband during what turned out to be West Ham's relegation season. Since then, two years of discipline under Jose Mourinho at Chelsea plus a desire to turn a patchy international career into something more substantial have led him to the conclusion that individual acclaim is a false goal.

The fame spreads

On Saturday, he was identified by many observers as England's sole source of creativity in open play.

"He has a real capacity for acceleration and always the hope of bringing others into play," L'Equipe wrote. "It's a shame that his teammates weren't able to take advantage of it."

But when it was put to him that this World Cup could finally bring him the international recognition so confidently predicted when he was a kid, he politely deflected the compliment. "That would be great. But the mentality is that I don't necessarily want to be a star. People were pushing me to be a star and really I just want to play my football and help England win a few games," he said.

"No disrespect to anyone but I don't listen to fans, media or my friends. I listen to people like Jose, Roeder and Sven (Goran-Eriksson), people who I feel I can learn from.

"Everyone's got an opinion and you can't please everyone, so you've got to look at the people around you. I've looked at (David) Beckham, (Marcel) Desailly, (Juan Sebastian) Veron and (Paolo) Di Canio. I've tried to learn from them and not listen to what anyone else says.

"Whatever's happened, I've always tried to train hard and get better. And now I just want to help the team do something special," he added. —

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