England's poor start to their World Cup finals campaign continued yesterday in Cape Town as they could only manage a dismal 0-0 draw with the mighty Algeria meaning Wednesday's game against Slovenia is now a monumental, and hopefully more entertaining, spectacle.
The game against Algeria, who suffered a goalkeeping error of their own during their opening game against Slovenia as Robert Koren's shot was thrown into his own net by Faouzi Chaouchi, was deemed as England's real start to the 2010 World Cup after a stuttering performance against the Americans resulted in a stalemate. However if this was the game the 3 Lions were supposed to show their quality, nobody told the players as Fabio Capello's men produced an uninspiring performance leaving the English players leaving the field to a chorus of boos, as the paying public were clearly unimpressed.
Something that has been evident in England's tournament so far is their inability to retain possession of the football as they allow themselves to be out passed by so called inferior nations, and that was no different yesterday as Algeria's Hassan Yebda dictated most of the early play. England's inability to keep the ball is difficult to explain. Perhaps the ITV optimists will try to sugar coat it by blaming the ball, or even the altitude, but in reality England's players who were undoubtedly nervous opted for the easy way out too often as time after time the ball was lazily hoofed in the direction of Emile Heskey. In addition to this ball playing midfielders like Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard just didn't turn up by constantly mis-placing passes that they make so comfortably for their clubs.
The poor use of the ball explains why England failed to create any clear cut chances, with goalkeeper M'Bholi, who was filling in for the injured Chaouchi, was only called into action by speculative long range efforts from Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard. On the rare occasions England found themselves in decent positions, poor decision making cost England as Lennon and more notably Gerrard frequently chose the wrong ball.
In truth England did not pose any real threat, whilst their energetic opponents were causing distress in David James' penalty area with well delivered set pieces. Capello waited too long to try and force things to happen as it wasn't until the 63rd minute when Shaun Wright-Phillips was introduced, however the Manchester City man didn't make too much difference, which is something that will surely anger Joe Cole who is yet to play a single minute at this summer's World Cup. When Capello removed Heskey, and consequently the temptation to go long, Jermain Defoe did look lively and caused problems by running in behind which raises the question why didn't the Tottenham front man start in Cape Town?
Another player who perhaps will have the right to feel aggrieved could be Manchester City's Adam Johnson who was harshly omitted from the 23 man squad in favour of Wright Phillips who has been playing second fiddle to the former Middlesbrough man since he signed in January. England were crying out for natural width on the left hand side as Skipper Steven Gerrard was constantly drifting inside, neutralising the chance of effective counter attacking.
Credit must be handed to the Algerians, who arrived with a game plan and executed it brilliantly as they frequently frustrated England and forced them into basic errors and on another night they may well have nicked all three points.
The frustration they caused was evident at the final whistle when the estimated crowd of 65,000 erupted with a chorus of booing from those supporting England, something that angered Wayne Rooney who rather sarcastically said when leaving the pitch "Nice to see your own fans booing you, that's what loyal support is" Maybe you need reminding of something Wayne. An estimated 28'000 fans have made the extremely expensive trip to South Africa, by doing so they are showing their loyalty and passion, which makes them entitled to react in any manner they want. If only the passion and pride those fans have shown could be reflected by you on the pitch, as arguably Rooney was the worst player on the pitch yesterday as he failed to control pass after pass and in so doing, wasted rare moments possession.
Yesterday's game had been earmarked by most as a sure thing but in truth a draw in many ways flattered England as they were outfought and outplayed by their opponents. The objective for Wednesday is simple: win or go home early. Can England's "lions" turn it around and beat Slovenia? There are very few signs in their opening games to suggest they can. We shall see.
Paul Seed
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