Jamie Carragher hopes to start for England against Algeria
Jamie Carragher hopes to benefit from the growing injury list in the England defence and earn the opportunity to start England’s second and now crucial group game against Algeria.
England coach Fabio Capello, persuaded the Liverpool defender to come out of international retirement to join England at the World Cup in South Africa and Carragher may well make the Italian’s starting eleven after Ledley King was replaced during the half-time interval of the Three Lions’ 1-1 draw with the USA on Saturday.
King was unable to continue, following a suspected groin injury. With Rio Ferdinand already ruled out of the World Cup with a knee injury, the England defence is beginning to look somewhat threadbare.
Carragher came on as a replacement for King and played the whole of the second half, picking up a yellow card along the way. He was also turned and beaten for pace by USA striker Jozy Altidore, whose effort from a sharp angle was turned onto the post by Robert Green.
Even though deemed to be struggling a little bit on Saturday, Carragher was pleased to play against the USA. He now hopes to make Capello’s first eleven against Algeria on Friday.
"Hopefully I'll play, as unfortunately Ledley did his groin early on in the game and actually did very well to battle on to half-time, but it's a squad thing now," said Carragher We do have a couple of injuries in that area of the team. If I can get a chance, I would love the opportunity to take it. That's one of the reasons why I came back. I wasn't stupid. I knew I was probably coming here as a squad player, and that I wasn't a definite starter, and so I was delighted to get on against USA and hopefully I will get another chance. To play in another World Cup for England is a great thing for me and I'm very proud of that from a personal point of view. The main thing now is that hopefully I can get a run in the team and we can get through the group."
Carragher was swift to put the draw against the USA behind him, but the 32-year-old understands that England will have to get much better if they are to reach the closing stages of the tournament.
"Before I came out, I was watching the TV and the first game in Italia 1990 saw England get a lucky draw against the Republic of Ireland and they went on to reach the semi-finals.
"That's all forgotten about as you move on - but the performance has got to improve. You can't say its only results that matter and the performances don't. If you don't play well continuously, then you will come unstuck. But it's not as if it was a disastrous performance. I think it was decent performance overall and we had a few more chances that, probably on another day, we would have put away. We always say the first game is going to be tough. It's like playing your first Premier League game of the season. No matter who you are playing, it is going to be a tough game. There's always a big build-up to the first game for both teams but still, taking the lead and not going onto win, is a bitter disappointment."
Despite the injury worries surrounding England’s defence, bookmakers do not envisage many problems for the side when they take on Algeria on Friday. They are currently 1/4 shots to win the game with Algeria put in at a best priced 12/1 outsiders.
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