FIFA World Cup 2010 match 23 - Group C
England v Algeria, 18th June - Cape Town

England: James, Johnson, A.Cole, Terry, Carragher, Gerrard, Lennon (Wright-Phillips 63), Lampard, Barry (Crouch 84), Rooney, Heskey (Defoe 74).

Algeria: M'Bohli, Bougherra, Belhadj, Yahia, Halliche, Boudebouz (Abdoun 73), Lacen, Ziani (Guedioura 80), Yebda (Mesbah 88), Kadir, Matmour.

After the disappointing draw and performance in the opening game against America the entire nation was expecting a marked improvement now against Algeria. What we got was significantly worse.

Without exagerration I think this was England's worst ever performance in a World Cup finals.

There was no cohesion, imagination or inspiration. The effort, as always, was there but the performance was characterised by continual basic errors in passing and control. Nobody was immune and nobody emerged with any real credit.

The first half saw Algeria's replacement keeper, M'Bohli make a simple save from Gerrard and a better one from Lampard on the couple of occasions that England forced their way into the Algerian penalty area.

At the other end David James, prefereed to Rob Green, had to deal with a couple of centres.

It was dreadful fare.

Half Time: England 0 Algeria 0

I suppose everybody was expecting that at some stage England's performance would improve, that there would be at least a five minute spell of real pressure or a couple of good moves.

None of this happened.

England increasingly found themselves trying to pick their way down the centre of the pitch through a crowd of Algerian bodies but always found their efforts thwarted by an extra defender.

Individual inspiration was never likely to come to the rescue of a team obviously losing confidence by the minute.

Throwing on Wright-Phillips again rather than Joe Cole increased the sense of frustration, Jermain Defoe came on but his attempts to inject pace and penetration did nothing to inspire his teammates and Crouch was again given no time to make an impact.

The only good thing was that Algeria were doing nothing to suggest that they might snatch a winner and the game fizzled out completely as England continued to batter cluelessly at the Algerian defence.

The final whistle was met with resounding boos from the England fans in attendance which provoked a fierce response from Wayne Rooney. What he or any of the other players expected from the fans after this dismal display is hard to understand.

Shocking.

Full Time: England 0 Algeria 0

England: James 5, Johnson 2, A.Cole 3, Terry 3, Carragher 2, Gerrard 2, Lennon 2 (Wright-Phillips 0), Lampard 2, Barry 2, Rooney 1, Heskey 2 (Defoe 3).

Algeria: M'Bohli 7, Bougherra 7, Belhadj 6, Yahia 4, Halliche 5, Boudebouz 3 (Abdoun 3), Lacen 3, Ziani 4, Yebda 3, Kadir 3, Matmour 4.

Referee: Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan) 7
Not hard to referee a game in which nothing is happening.

Good: You tell me.

Bad: How can Wayne Rooney possibly play as badly as that?

Ugly: How could Wayne Rooney have a go at the fans for booing that performance?