Cole is sweating on his place for South Africa but came off the bench as a second half substitute to set up the equaliser in today's 2-1 win over Japan in Austria.

The Chelsea player said: "Do I have any nerves? You've got to be pragmatic about it. I came here 10 days ago to try to 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.

"Have I done enough? I don't want to go into that. I came here 10 days ago. I had a good finish to the season, I wasn't starting but I was having an impact coming off the bench.

"I came here and did my thing and I've enjoyed it because it has been such a long time, Croatia was my last game and I ended up with 10 stitches in my head!

"It is just nice to be back around the lads and it feels great."

Cole added: "I don't know what I will do on Tuesday. 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, have my breakfast and there we go."

Meanwhile, Coles' Chelsea team-mate Frank Lampard is willing to continue to take penalties despite missing a second successive spot-kick.

Lampard had failed to hit the target in the FA Cup final against Portsmouth and saw his effort from 12 yards parried by Japanese goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima.

But he insisted: "I always want to take penalties. It wasn't a great one today, to be honest, which is disappointing because I practised loads this week.

"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."