Joe Cole is the magic of East End that produces miraculous moments

The sight of Joe Cole erupting in the crowd of red shirts, speeding and crashing into the ball past Edwin van der Sar will forever send a thorn to the thorn at Stamford Bridge.

This is a decisive moment in Cole's career. He was in the form of his life and this goal won his second consecutive Premier League title, firing Chelsea into two goals against Manchester United.

Then in the same match Wayne Rooney was injured, just eight days before Sven Goran Eriksson will appoint his squad for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

The national news agenda never dwelled on Cole's extraordinary contribution and it was a strange quirk that he had to announce his retirement on the day Rooney returned to England.

Rooney did make the World Cup finals, but Cole's brilliant strike from distance against Sweden in the 2-2 draw would be the only real moment for the country to win the tournament.

Cole is at its peak. Her joy and imagination combined with the strength of her body and mind that came from two years of hard work and strong love under Jose Mourinho.

Cole is a child who brings soccer to bed and leads him to the school gate. He has been heralded for greatness and West Ham beat the crowd including Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United for his signature.

That did not stop Sir Alex Ferguson's declaration of love. He sent United's shirt with & # 39; Cole 10 & # 39; on. & # 39;

& # 39; None of us have seen a child like him in our lives, & # 39; said Harry Redknapp, as he recalled his first view of Cole in the colors of West Ham, playing for the Under 13s against Norwich. "It must be like watching Messi for the first time."

Cole was front page news before he took his GCSE. At the age of 15, he trained with Redknapp's first team and helped West Ham win the FA Youth Cup in 1999.

Glenn Roeder's first glimpse of Cole was on his first day as a reserve team coach, when he saw the teenager collecting a bag of balls after practicing and taking them behind the gym, out of sight, where he spent an hour alone with his second leg.

"Joe is an extraordinary talent," said Roeder, who later captained Cole from West Ham. "You can make it breathe the same as Paul Gascoigne and Laurie Cunningham, whom I play with.

& # 39; But if there are parts of the game that he feels need to be improved, he comes out and does it himself, without seeking attention.

& # 39; I disagree with the idea that he is an unfulfilled talent. He won the Premier League and FA Cup and played in the World Cup and Champions League. How did it not work? He has one in 10 million. & # 39;

Cole confirmed his retirement at the age of 37, after completing a USL campaign with the Tampa Bay Rowdies, and he could be proud of everything he had achieved.

There are silver, hats and surprising moments – a £ 6.6 million move for Chelsea in his past after Roman Abramovich's takeover and the return of emotions to West Ham, spells abroad in France and the United States, injury degradation and suffering.

Cole was never the same player after suffering a serious knee injury in an FA Cup replay at Southend during the last days of Luiz Felipe Scolari's tenure.

He could consider what might have happened without that night at Roots Hall. Or if he had reached the peak on Pep Guardiola's revolutionary side in Barcelona when more teams came to believe in technique and ownership. But he didn't want to because it wasn't his style. Cole plays soccer because he likes games.