Joe Cole was the East End prodigy who produced moments of wonder

The sight of Joe Cole erupting from within a crowd of red shirts, speeding forth and crashing the ball past Edwin van der Sar will forever send shivers down spines at Stamford Bridge.

This was the defining moment of Cole's career. He was in the form of his life and this goal clinched a second successive Premier League title, firing Chelsea into a two-goal lead against Manchester United.

Later in the same game Wayne Rooney was injured, just eight days before Sven Goran Eriksson was due to name his squad for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

The national news agenda never did dwell on Cole's fabulous contribution and it is a curious quirk that he should announce his retirement on a day when Rooney is back in the England fold.

Rooney did make the World Cup finals, but Cole's thunderous strike from long range against Sweden in a 2-2 draw would be the nation's one real moment to cherish from that tournament.

Cole was at his peak. His natural flair and imagination combined with the strength of body and mind which came from two years of toil and tough love under Jose Mourinho.

Cole was the kid who took his football to bed and dribbled it to the school gates. He had been tipped for greatness and West Ham beat a crowd including Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United to his signature.

That didn't stop Sir Alex Ferguson's declarations of love. He sent a United shirt with 'Cole 10' on it. '

'None of us have seen a kid like him in our lives', said Harry Redknapp, as he recalled his first sight of Cole in West Ham colours, playing for the Under 13s against Norwich. 'It must have been like watching Messi for the first time.'

Cole was front-page news before he had taken his GCSEs. At 15, he was training 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 reserve-team coach, when he saw the teenager collect a bag of balls after training and take them behind the gym, out of sight, where he spent an hour alone chipping with both feet.

'Joe was a wonderful talent,' said Roeder, who later made Cole captain of West Ham. 'You could put him in the same breath as Paul Gascoigne and Laurie Cunningham, who I played with.

'But if there were parts of his game he felt needed to be improved, he went out and did it on his own, without seeking attention.

'I disagree with the idea he is an unfulfilled talent. He won Premier Leagues and FA Cups and played in the World Cup and the Champions League. How is that not successful? He has been one in 10 million.'

Cole confirmed his retirement at the age of 37, having finished the USL campaign with Tampa Bay Rowdies, and he can be proud of all he has achieved.

There was silverware, caps and moments of wonder — a £6.6million move to Chelsea in the giddy aftermath of the Roman Abramovich takeover and an emotional return to West Ham, spells abroad in France and the United States, relegation and the agony of injuries.

Cole was never quite 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 can consider what might have been without that night at Roots Hall. Or if he had reached his peak this side of Pep Guardiola's Barcelona revolution when more teams came to trust technique and possession. But he won't because that's not his style. Cole played football because he loved the game.