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A woeful England meandered to a 0-0 draw with Algeria on Friday, leaving them at risk of an early World Cup exit.
Fabio Capello’s team, under the cosh already after their much-criticised 1-1 opener against the United States, struggled to find any rhythm and gave the ball away far too easily, doing little to silence their detractors.
With the United States and Slovenia drawing 2-2 earlier, Group C is finely poised.
Slovenia have four points, with England and the USA on two and Algeria with one.
If England fail to beat Slovenia and the US defeat Algeria, Capello’s team will be out of a tournament many favoured them to contend in – this in a pool once thought so easy that one British newspaper described it as “the best English group since the Beatles”.
It was a poor performance, with players looking tired and devoid of spark.
The big news ahead of the game was the axing of West Ham goalkeeper Robert Green after his blunder against the USA with veteran David James taking over.
Gareth Barry also returned from an ankle injury, but he struggled and was largely ineffective.
Skipper Steven Gerrard was the first to trouble the Algerians with a cross-cum-shot that ‘keeper M’bohi Rais Ouheb, preferred to Faouzi Chaouchi after their 1-0 loss to Slovenia, had to jump high to collect.
James got into the game on 11 minutes when he punched clear a looping cross on his goal line, not entirely convincingly but good enough to avert the danger.
England couldn’t get going and Algeria was seeing plenty of the ball. It was clear that Capello, celebrating his 64th birthday, was none too pleased, angrily pacing the dugout.
James was tested again when his Portsmouth teammate Nadir Belhadj whipped in a corner under the England bar, claiming it impressively this time under pressure from two Algerians.
England finally started to wake up and Gerrard got a shot on target near the half-hour mark before Frank Lampard had a great chance, collecting the ball in the box after some nice build-up play.
He unleashed a left-footed drive but the keeper saved.
Capello would have given them a piece of his mind in the dressing room but they didn’t look much better when they came out, with a scrappy start to the second-half.
Gerrard and Lampard sparked some interest when they combined nicely but the Liverpool star’s cross was awful, straight to the feet of an opponent when he had three players in the box.
To make matters worse Carragher picked up a yellow card — his second of the tournament — meaning he is out of the Slovenia match.
The cumbersome Heskey, meanwhile, should have done better inside the penalty area with 18 minutes left but his shot was deflected over for a corner.
In a last role of the dice, Capello brought on Shaun Wright-Philipps for Aaron Lennon, Jermain Defoe for Heskey and Peter Crouch for Barry, but despite picking up the pace the breakthrough remained elusive.
With the score at 0-0 shortly before the end of the match, travelling supporter Duncan Jenkins, 30, an accountant from Manchester, said: “At this rate Capello will be looking for a new job in the morning. It’s rubbish. Rooney couldn’t trap a bag of cement. And the team looks like it just doesn’t care. There’s no energy. Nil-nil is just terrible.”
England’s captain Gerrard made no excuses.
“We’re not happy with the performance, we need more if we want to stay in this tournament to the later stages, we need to improve,” Gerrard said.
“We weren’t good enough in the final third to get the breakthrough.
“We know the job we’ve got to do, we’ve got to go and win the last game and that adds more pressure, but to play at this level you’ve got to handle it, you’ve got to play under pressure.
“We weren’t at our level today, it’s not good enough.”
Striker Wayne Rooney showed his frustration as he trudged off the field to the jeers of disgruntled England supporters, saying to a TV camera: “It’s nice to see your own fans booing you.”
Algerian midfielder Ryad Boudebouz said England had been complacent – and said his side were capable of beating the Americans.
“We are pleased with the draw as the English underestimated us in the media over recent days,” he said.
“We were determined to show them we were not just here for the ride and that we have a decent team.
“Now we have to play the United States and if we know if we play like we did tonight we can beat them.”
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