The headlines surrounding England’s opening 1-1 draw with USA quite rightly concerned Robert Green’s goalkeeping howler but there were plenty of other points for discussion and the overall criticism of the Three Lions’ performance was probably unjustified.
England started brightly but while they took a deserved lead through Steven Gerrard’s fourth minute strike USA were never out of the game and secured an equaliser when the hapless Green spilled Landon Donovan’s tame effort into his own net.
That was how it was to end, a share of the spoils probably a fair result, but England certainly created the better chances to win it in the second half and will be confident of beating Algeria on Friday evening.
Emile Heskey, who lead the line superbly, spoilt his evening by shooting weakly at Tim Howard with the goal at his mercy as the game neared its conclusion but there was enough to like about his and, in particular, Steven Gerrard’s performance in midfield to suggest England can still progress in style and they are tipped to do just that by getting the better of the North Africans and Slovenia.
Algeria, the group outsiders before things got underway, did little to enhance their lowly reputation with a limited display against the eastern Europeans, when beaten 1-0 on Sunday, and, with John Terry and his chosen central defensive partner expected to nullify any threat with ease, England should triumph comfortably.
The concern for many England fans will be Wayne Rooney’s quiet evening against Bob Bradley’s side but he just started to purr in the latter stages and will have been grateful for Heskey’s tireless contribution alongside him.
A goal will do Rooney the world of good and with Algeria looking particularly suspect defensively, goalkeeper Faouzi Chaouchi struggled badly versus Slovenia, he’ll be hoping to rediscover his early-season form in the nick of time.
Odds of 1.25 don’t interest me about Fabio Capello’s men resuming wining ways but there is still some value to be had in siding with the Italian’s troops by dutching a couple of correct scores and that looks the way to go.
Algeria have never been prolific, averaging just over a goal per game in qualifying, and were woeful when I saw them recently up against Ireland in a pre-World Cup warm-up match.
1pt Back England 2 Algeria 0 @ 6.0 (totesport) 1pt Back England 3 Algeria 0 @ 8.0 (Blue Square)