Cole not worried by selection wait

Joe Cole admits it is important to keep football in perspective as he waits to hear whether he is part of the England squad for the 2010 World Cup finals.

The Chelsea midfielder is one of the players who could be on the borderline when Fabio Capello trims his squad down from 30 to 23 players on Tuesday.

Cole did his case no harm by coming off the bench to set up England's equaliser as they came from behind to defeat Japan 2-1 in their final warm-up international in Graz yesterday.

But he said: "You've got to put football into perspective otherwise it will drive you mad because there is so much importance put on it.

"At the end of the day it is only a game of football.

"Constantly you have to have that perspective as a footballer because there is so much pressure and importance put on whether you win a game of football.

"I find it is good as a person to do that a lot.

"What will be will be, but the main thing is it will be great for the country and the people to have a great World Cup and go and win it."

Cole added: "What will I do on Tuesday (when Capello reveals his final squad)? I don't know. I've never been in this position. I don't know. It is a funny atmosphere. There is nothing you can do.

"We've done everything we can do, we've trained hard, everyone has had an excellent week's training and that's all you can do. I'll wake up on Tuesday, have my breakfast and there we go.

"Do I have any nerves? You've got to be pragmatic about it. I came here 10 days ago to try and enjoy my time back here, train well, and it's in the manager's hands about the squad.

"There are a lot of players who will be hoping, a lot of players have got a good case. But, whatever happens, we are all right behind England and hopefully this will be our time."

Meanwhile, Frank Lampard is willing to continue as England's penalty-taker if he gets the nod from Capello despite missing a second successive effort from the spot.

Lampard was off target when Chelsea defeated Portsmouth in the FA Cup final and had his spot-kick saved by Japanese goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima in England's 2-1 win in Austria.

The midfielder has netted 25 out of 29 penalties in all competitions since his spot-kick miss in the 2006 World Cup shoot-out against Portugal and he is willing to remain in the role.

Lampard said: "I always want to take penalties. It wasn't a great one against Japan which is disappointing because I practised loads this week.

"But perhaps it's better to miss them now. I was under the spotlight because I missed the last one I took. But I'm always confident in taking them.

"That will make me work harder and, if the manager wants me to take one, I will step up."