England goalless against Algeria

Cape Town: A disapointing outing for England as they drew 0-0 against Algeria in the Group C encounter between the two teams at Cape Town. It was the first ever international meeting between England and Algeria at any level.

In the first 15 minutes neither team had made any good shot on goal. Algeria seemed to take better control of the ball with more possession and making good passes moving ahead of the field.

They seemed to be more comfortable with the ball, making those clever little passes.

In the 22nd minute Algeria tested England defense with a teasing ball, but it was cleared by incoming player Gareth Barry for a corner.

In the opening 24 minutes of the first half Algeria were enjoying 56 per cent of possession as England lacked rhythm and discipline in their play during that time.

In the 27th minute Algeria defense for the first time looked slack as England strikers managed to steal the ball from them and put them under pressure, but fortunately for Algeria, they managed to recover.

Coming into the game England ace striker Rooney had said England can beat Algeria even with ordinary performance, but they seemed to be struggling till the 30th minute with Algeria being the better side.

Finally in the 30th minute, Gerard managed to hit one shot on target for England from a fair distance but his strike was cleanly collected by the Algerian keeper, M Bholi.

England finally managed to look a little better after that effort and managed to open few spaces in the Algerian defense.

In the 33rd minute England got the best chance of the match through Lampard who hit his shot, but his shot was brilliantly denied by the keeper, M Bholi.

The tempo of the game seemed to rise as both the teams were managing to take the ball end to end.

England seemed to find their tone with Gerard and Lampard combining well in the middle and holding good possession for England.

At the end of the first half the score remained 0-0 with neither teams opening the score-sheet.

The teams came out for the second half with no changes in personnel.

England started positively making good passes. Gerard and Lampard combined well and made a good run on goal around 55th minute but could not find the final ball.

In the 59th minute England suffered a major blow with Carragher getting his second yellow card of the tournament as Hasan Yebda for Algeria made a smart move. He will be missing the England's final match against Slovenia.

Rooney looked ordinary, and could not do much to bring his magic till the 63rd minute. He looked very uncomfortable and could hardly make any impact in the game.

England were finally finding more gaps, with good balls from the wing and they were managing to hit a few target but could not find the opening goal.

Gerard was looking like he was present everywhere and was instrumental in most of the England movement ahead. With England pushing for goal, Algeria defenders were standing firm and doing their task well.

Nothing seemed work for the English team as they continued on to struggle to get the opening goal. Towards the end of the game they were making desperate shots from long distance.

A powerful drive my Defoe in the extra time summed up Englands night, his shot was way over the cross bar and no real work for the Algerian keeper. The game ended 0-0.

Manager Fabio Capello seemed to be completely upset with the result whereas the Algerians seemed to be happy to share the point.

Now England will face Slovenia who have a win against Algeria and are leading the of Group.

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