It was the same old story for England in their 2nd match of the World Cup against Algeria. In simple words, the performance by the 1966 world champions can be termed as toothless; there were hardly any clear cut chances created by England, and the handful that were lacked the finishing ability up front. Capello, the man trusted with the responsibility of taking England to World Cup glory, has failed to instil the confidence in the team which they have been lacking for decades, as despite having numerous stars in the line-up, they just cannot come up with a winning formula.
But Algeria also deserve all the credit, as they shut the door for England throughout the 90 minutes, and the un-fancied North Africans came out with a successful game plan which they followed throughout the match.
Capello started with Rooney and Heskey, which was very surprising, as there was a feeling that Defoe or Crouch may have been a better choice. Instead, the manager once again went for a man who cannot even get a regular place in the starting 11 for his club in England; why he chose him only he knows, and the results were there for everyone to see, as there was no coordination between the two strikers. Rooney on the other hand seems to have outlived his form, as he was simply unstoppable for Manchester United and was believed to be the key man for England in the World Cup, but just could not control the ball, and probably had the worst game of his England career. Some of that can be blamed on him not being comfortable with playing alongside Heskey, with whom he clearly had no understanding.
Algeria were the aggressive side in the opening stages of the match, and England took some time to get going, and even then, they were reduced to long range efforts: a couple from Captain Gerrard in the first half were easily stopped by the Algerian keeper. England’s best chance in the first half was midway through when Lampard was laid off a ball in the six yard box, but unfortunately, the ball fell to his un-favoured left foot rather than the right, and he put the ball right into the keeper's lap.
Aaron Lennon on the right wing was very ineffective. Even though he did make numerous runs down the wing, but the final ball is what was missing, which left all England fans wondering how different it could have been had Beckham been in the team. The former England captain by far has been the best at putting in passes from the right wing for years.
England did finish the first half as the stronger side, though, but still without anything to show for it. The 2nd half also started strongly for England, who did make some good moves to go close to the Algerian 6 yard box, but once again there was no creativity in the final 3rd of the field to complete any move.
Rooney looked to be under pressure and frustrated by the weight of expectation on his shoulders, as fans kept hoping their talismanic striker would provide them with a magic moment, but it was just not meant to be. Capello in the 2nd half replaced Lennon with Barry who even though is a capable player, but is 2nd choice for his club Manchester City, and later, the manager played all his cards when he sent on Defoe and Crouch playing effectively with 3 up front, but that hardly changed anything. England ended the match with one point, but Group C is still wide open with all 4 teams having a good chance of making it to the next round.
After the match, England captain Steven Gerrard said in an interview that the team needs to improve to a great degree, final third seems to be their biggest problem, and they would have to take a serious look at the game tactics before the next game, as they hope to go a long way in this World Cup.
It now all comes down to their 3rd match against Slovenia.
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