Algeria 0, England 0: Full Time Report
There was no happy birthday for Fabio Capello in Cape Town as England were booed by their own supporters following a dreadful performance against Algeria that leaves their World Cup hopes hanging by a thread.
Although they exerted some late pressure, if Capello's men had denied Algeria a point it would have been a massive injustice on a night when Franz Beckenbauer's assessment of England being a "kick and rush" team was proved to be false. They weren't as good as that.
The maths are now quite simple. Beat Slovenia - when they will be without the suspended Jamie Carragher - in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday and England have scrambled their way into the last 16. Fail and in all probability they will go home.
And, after the evidence of their 180 minutes so far since their arrival in South Africa, that is exactly what they will deserve.
Capello said yesterday he has not made any mistakes.
After watching his team hardly threaten the Algerian goal, if he still feels that way, his bunch of players truly are woeful.
Because all the altitude training, and all the preparations at their Rustenburg hideaway have delivered a paucity of performance that is almost too bad to be believed.
Having told the world he would not confirm the identity of his chosen goalkeeper until two hours before kick-off, it transpired Capello's mind had been made up by the final training session last night.
A couple of mistakes from Rob Green were enough to convince Capello the West Ham man could not be trusted, so David James was in for his first competitive start in 15 months.
Really though it was supposed to be a watching brief for the man who stood between the sticks. Against a side ranked 30th in the world, and from a continent that has never beaten England, in front of Prince William, the Three Lions were supposed to deliver a performance fit for a king.
How wrong that assumption was.
England's lack of guile was embarrassing at times.
It took Capello's men until three minutes before the break to retain possession for any decent period.
