England Football Online
  Page Last Updated 25 February 2013

الجزائر

 
FIRST MEETING vs. ALGERIA
ninth new opposition at World Cup Finals


885 vs. United States
886
887 vs. Slovenia
888 vs. Germany


Results 2005-2010

Friday, 18 June 2010
FIFA Sokker-Wȇreldbekertoernooi in 2010 First Phase Group C, Match Four

England 0 Algeria 0 [0-0]
 

Kaapstad-stadion, Frtiz Sonnenberg Road, Green Point, Kaapstad, Wes-Kaap, South Africa
Attendance: 64,100; Kick-off: 8.30pm SAST, 7.30pm BST;
Live on ITV One (UK) - Commentator: Clive Tyldesley

  Match Summary
England Squad
Algeria Squad
England - Jamie Carragher (58)
Algeria -
Mehdi Lacen (85)

Algeria kicked-off. 94 minutes (46 & 48).

 

Match Summary

Officials

England

Type

Algeria

Referee (red) - Ravshan Irmatov
32 (9 August 1977), Tashkent, Uzbekistan, FIFA-listed 2003.

Assistant Referees - Rafael Ilyasov, Uzbekistan & Bakhadyr Kochkarov, Kazakhstan.

Fourth official - Michael Hester, New Zealand
Fifth Official/Reserve Assistant Referee - Jan Hendrik Hintz, New Zealand.
Match Commissioner - Henri Thierry Ariiotima, Tahiti
General Co-ordinator - Hugo Salcedo, United States

15 Goal Attempts 11
6 Attempts on Target 1
0 Hit Bar/Post 0
10 Corner Kicks Won 3
1 Offside Calls Against 3
13 Fouls Conceded 13
48% Possession 52%

England Team

 

Rank:

FIFA (26th May 2010) 8th
EFO ranking Group 2

ELO rating 5th

Colours: The 2009 home uniform - Plain white collared jerseys, plain white shorts, plain white socks.
Capt: Steven Gerrard, tenth captaincy. Manager: Fabio Capello, 64 (18 June 1946), appointed 14 December 2007, effective 7 January 2008, 
26th match, W 18 - D 4 - L 4 - F 62 - A 21.
England Lineup
1 James, David B. 39 1 August 1970 G Portsmouth FC 51 42ᵍᵃ
2 Johnson, Glen M. 25 23 August 1984 RB Liverpool FC 24 1
3 Cole, Ashley 29 20 December 1980 LB Chelsea FC 80 0
4 Gerrard, Steven G. 30 30 May 1980 LM Liverpool FC 82 17
18 Carragher, James L.D. 32 28 January 1978 CD Liverpool FC 38 0
Carragher cautioned in the 58th min. for Unsporting Behaviour, for a foul on Hassan Yebda. Suspended.
6 Terry, John G. 29 7 December 1980 CD Chelsea FC 62 6
7 Lennon, Aaron J., off 63rd min. 23 16 April 1987 RM Tottenham Hotspur FC 19 0
8 Lampard, Frank J. 31 20 June 1978 CM

Chelsea FC

80 19
21 Heskey, Emile W.I., off 74th min. 32 11 January 1978 F Aston Villa FC 60 7
10 Rooney, Wayne M. 24 24 October 1985 F

Manchester United FC

62 24
14 Barry, Gareth, off 84th min. 29 23 February 1981 CM Manchester City FC 37 2
England Substitutes
17 Wright-Phillips, Shaun C., on 63rd min. for Lennon 28 25 October 1981 RM Manchester City FC 33 6
19 Defoe, Jermain C., on 74th min. for Heskey 27 7 October 1982 F Tottenham Hotspur FC 41 11
9 Crouch, Peter J., on 84th min. for Barry 29 30 January 1981 F Tottenham Hotspur FC 40 21
result: England 0 Algeria 0

unused substitutes:

5-Michael Dawson, 11-Joe Cole, 12-Robert Green, 13-Stephen Warnock, 15-Matthew Upson, 16-James Milner, 22-Michael Carrick, 23-Joe Hart.

substitute notes: Jermain Defoe comes on as a substitute for a record 28th occasion.
Coach Fabio Capello played for Italy against England in June (scoring one) and November 1973 (scoring another), and in May and November 1976.
 

 4-4-2

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

Averages (Starting XI):

Age 29.4 Appearances/Goals 54.1 7.1

 

Algeria Team

 

Rank:

FIFA (26th May 2010) 30th
EFO ranking Group n/a

ELO rating 82nd to 74th

Colours: Made by Puma - Green crew neck jerseys with red/white pinstripes and white cuffs, green shorts, green socks with white tops and vertical short stripe.
Capt: Anthar Yahia Manager: Rabah Saādane, 64 (3 May 1946), appointed 17 October 2007;
Algeria Lineup
23 M'Bohli Ouhab, A. Rais C.A. 24 25 April 1986
in France
G PFC Slavia Sofia, Bulgaria 2 0
2 Bougherra, Madjid 27 7 October 1982
in France
RB Rangers FC, Scotland 42 3
3 Belhadj, Nadir 28 18 June 1982
in France
LM Portsmouth FC, England 46 4
4 Yahia, Antar 28 21 March 1982
in France
LB VfL Bochum 1848 F, Germany 45 5
5 Halliche, Rafik 23 2 September 1986 CD CD Nacional Madeira, Portugal, on loan from Sport Lisboa e Benfica, Portugal 18 1
21 Kadir, Foued 26 5 December 1983
in France
RM Valenciennes FC, France 3 0
7 Boudebouz, Ryad, off 74th min. 20 19 February 1990
in France
RAM FC Sochaux-Montbéliard, France 2 0
8 Lacen, Medhi G.G. 26 5 February 1984
in France
CM Real Racing Club de Santander, Spain 4 0
Lacen cautioned in the 85th min. for Unsporting Behaviour, for a foul on Shaun Wright-Phillips.
13 Matmour, Karim 24 25 June 1985
in France
CF Borussia VfL 1900 Mönchengladbach, Germany 24 2
15 Ziani, Karim K.Y., off 81st min. 27 17 August 1982
in France
LAM VfL Wolfsburg, Germany 56 4
19 Yebda, Hassan, off 88th min. 26 14 May 1984
in France
CM Sport Lisboa e Benfica, Portugal 11 0
Algeria Substitutes
22 Abdoun, Djamel, on 74th min. for Boudebouz 24 14 February 1986 M FC Nantes, France 7 0
17 Guedioura Pons, Adlène, on 81st min. for Boudebouz 24 12 November 1985 M Wolverhampton Wanderers FC, England 3 0
20 Mesbah, Djamel E., on 88th min. for Yebda 25 9 October 1984 M US Lecce, Italy 2 0
result: England 0 Algeria 0

unused substitutes:

1-Lounès Gaouaoui, 6-Yazīd Manṣūrī, 10-Rafik Saïfi, 11-Rafik Djebbour, 12-Habib Bellaïd, 14-Carl Medjani, 16-Faouzi Chaouchi, 18-Abdelkader Laïfaoui.

 
3-4-2-1 M'Bolhi -
Bougherra, Halliche, Yahia -
Kadir, Yebda
(Mesbah), Lacen, Belhadj -
Boudebouz
(Abdoun), Ziani (Guedioura) -
Matmour.

Averages (Starting XI):

Age 25.4 Appearances/Goals 23.0 1.7

 

 

Match Report by Mike Payne

First the good news, England kept a clean sheet for a change and Germany lost earlier in the day, and that's about it really.  The England fans have had to endure some pretty poor performances over the years and this World Cup Finals match against one of the so called minnows of the tournament ranks with the best of them.

Whenever I write an England match report I try so hard to review the game with a measured and calculated eye, as I don't wish to be too critical.  But this game really does test one's resolve.

Right from the first whistle there was precious little effort or cohesion in England's play and for the first half hour the team rarely strung two passes together.  The first touch, so crucial at this level, (or any other level for that matter), was missing from most of the England players, and more worrying was the fact that we constantly gave the ball away and were second to almost every loose ball.  The Algerian players couldn't believe their luck as they had acres of space to pass and move.  To be fair they did it well and, it pains me to say this, England chased shadows for much of the first half.  How can players that look so good for nine months of the year look so poor when it matters most?  Even our star man, Wayne Rooney, looked a pale shadow of the player we know he can be.  Was he injured, was he tired, or was he just trying too hard?  Who knows?

The early moments saw Robert Green's replacement David James tested with a dropping cross and he elected to punch, somewhat unconvincingly.  The ball went to Glen Johnson who skewed his clearance before England cleared.  Having said that, there was no doubt that James was one of the few successes of a miserable evening.  He rose to the pressure he must have been under and gave a classy and assured performance in goal.  It certainly showed that the rest of the defenders had confidence in their goalkeeper.  At the other end the best chance fell to Frank Lampard who hit a left-foot shot to the Algerian replacement goalkeeper's left but Rais M Boli got down well to save.  He too, gave a good performance on the night.

Goal attempts at either end were few and far between although both defences looked jittery at times.  Both attacks lacked that extra something in the final third and although shots went wide or over there were few worth mentioning in the report of the first half.  On a plus note it was good to see Gareth Barry back in the side and he did the job expected of him simply and effectively.  Unfortunately too many players around him were having off days.  Heskey worked hard, but his touch was missing, Aaron Lennon just could not get into the match, Ashley Cole looked disinterested and had none of his normal zest, Gerrard and Lampard spluttered along and Rooney had probably the worst game of his career to date!  No wonder the manager was going apoplectic on the line, I know how he feels as I was doing the same.

In recent England matches there has been a distinct improvement from the team in the second half.  This was not one of those days, as the match followed almost exactly the same pattern after the break.  To make matters worse Jamie Carragher picked up another booking and will now miss the crucial game against Slovenia.  The referee was over fussy at times and never really understood the English game as several innocuous challenges were punished with free-kicks, mainly because the Algerians fell to ground at the slightest touch, a frustrating habit of most teams at this tournament.  England could muster very few goal chances and the players seemed reluctant to take the responsibility to shoot.  Gerrard elected to pull the ball back when normally, at Anfield, he would have drilled the ball into the far corner from the position he was in.  Heskey tried an 'Ali Shuffle', almost tripping himself up, before shooting well over, and both Lampard and Gerrard shot well wide from good positions.  Lennon's last touch almost gave Rooney a free header only for a defender to just stretch enough to touch it away from him. 

Manager Fabio Capello, really 'enjoying' his 64th birthday, then sent on Shaun Wright-Phillips for Lennon, and later, Jermaine Defoe for Heskey.  Both players looked a little more lively, but apart from one shot from Defoe that flew over, there was no difference in the lacklustre England attack.  The late introduction of Peter Crouch for the industrious Barry was a token gesture from Capello that had no effect on the play.

So, we now have to play Slovenia in a game we must win to qualify for the next phase.  It is a scenario we didn't really expect but maybe, just maybe, it will bring the best out of the players next week.

Source Notes

BBC Sport
TheFA.com
ITV.com/football
DZFoot.com
FIFA.com
Mike Payne - football historian and contributor

____________________

CG