Cole's big chance to glitter at the head of the diamond

Lest anyone has forgotten amid the chaos and confusion of the past few days, England play an international football match at Old Trafford this afternoon, one of only half a dozen before next summer's finals of the European Championships. Just as well, too, given all that has gone on, that they have already qualified and were not involved in a critical play-off match.

Bizarre or not, the past week offers a reminder that however settled a squad may appear to be after a successful qualifying campaign, events can conspire against a manager - all the more so when those above him strive further upwards to the highest moral ground. There are places to play for in both the squad and the preferred XI, and it is therefore unwise to talk of meaningless friendlies at this sort of proximity to a major tournament.

In a week in which additional problems needed to be avoided, Sven Goran Eriksson stored one up by selecting an unbalanced squad with only three strikers, especially when Darius Vassell was playing a midweek game halfway round the world. The Villa man duly pulled out, and had Wayne Rooney not recovered unexpectedly from flu, England might have had to summon squeaky-clean Gary Lineker from the commentary box as the only other striker guaranteed not to have any sort of criminal record.

Michael Owen misses his second successive game after playing in the previous 21 (with 10 goals), so in Alan Smith's avoidable absence, Rooney will presumably start alongside Emile Heskey. That leaves James Beattie as a substitute, either sulking at his unkind treatment or determined to make a point if and when he gets on.

It would have been sensible to introduce the three uncapped players to full international football at some time during the afternoon, though a back injury to Tottenham's lanky defender Anthony Gardner is expected to prevent his debut. In any case, the centre of the defence has been changed so often over the past year that there is an equally strong argument for giving John Terry and Matthew Upson maximum time on the grass together. The Chelsea full-back Glen Johnson and Charlton's accomplished midfield all-rounder Scott Parker can, however, expect to appear at some stage.

Steven Gerrard's absence after he showed up so well last month in Istanbul in the problematic wide-left role is unfortunate, but will allow Joe Cole an opportunity to start, either there or in the Paul Scholes role at the head of the diamond. That would leave Phil Neville and Nicky Butt to contest the holding role on their home ground.

England's record against the Danes is almost as impressive as that against Turkey, another country to have improved considerably since the earliest meetings between the two. Despite those strides, Denmark have managed only one victory in 16 encounters (a critical one at Wembley that cost Bobby Robson's team a place at the 1984 European Championships).

They reached next summer's finals by winning one of the most closely contested groups, finishing a point ahead of Norway and Romania and two in front of Bosnia-Herzogovina. If losing 2-0 at home to the latter was their worst performance, a 5-2 success away to the Romanians was unquestionably the best. Jan Dahl Tomasson, once of Newcastle and now with Milan, was the leading scorer with five goals, just as he had been at the World Cup, with four goals in three group games before the embarrassing collapse against England. More of the same would be a welcome antidote to Eriksson's week.

England (probable, 4-1-2-1-2): James; G Neville, Terry, Upson, A Cole; P Neville (or Butt); Beckham, Lampard; J Cole; Heskey, Rooney.

Denmark (probable, 4-3-3): Sorensen; Helveg, Nielsen, Herinksen, N Jensen; Wieghorst, Tomasson, Gravesen; Gronkjaer, Sand, Jorgensen.