Cole gets lead role to mark century

The Chelsea left-back will make his 102nd appearance for the national side and will be presented with a golden cap before kick-off by Roy Hodgson. There was initial confusion on the eve of the game when the England manager suggested Frank Lampard "still remains captain of the team" in the absence of the injured Steven Gerrard but Hodgson clarified Cole would wear the armband, even though he had declined to speak publicly ahead of the fixture.

That was to be expected, with Cole having opted against facing the media on England duty since the 2006 World Cup finals, and with last autumn's inflammatory tweet, sent immediately after the FA's judgment on the John Terry racism case, likely to be revisited. The 32-year-old apologised personally to the FA's chairman, David Bernstein, at the time and, while he avoided a ban, was fined £90,000, Kazinform has learnt from The Guardian.

There was some surprise within the national set-up that Cole accepted the invitation to lead the side having declined the honour in the past. "But he wanted to be captain of the team on the night of the game, lead the team on the field, do his talking as he always does with his feet," said Hodgson. "Ashley Cole will do the coin toss, have the armband on. Frank, who would normally captain the team [in Gerrard's absence], has graciously agreed and, with all of us behind him, it's his night; Ashley's night. The other players, like Frank, were happy to let Ashley have this honour. We haven't sprung this on the other players. We've spoken about it and everyone agreed."

Hodgson, who claimed this month that Cole does "not regard himself as a potential leader" full-time, insisted there had been no reservations within the FA's hierarchy as to the one-off appointment. "Not at all," he said. "[The tweet] was something that was dealt with quite swiftly at the time, and personally between the chairman of the FA, David Bernstein, and Ashley Cole. They were satisfied that matter was put behind them - it was water under the bridge. It's not something we've taken into consideration at all. I find him a charming person, a fantastic footballer, and I've been delighted to work with him every day.

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