England v Algeria – World Cup match preview
Posted on June 17th, 2010 | 95 Comments |
A 1-1 draw with the States left an entire nation asking more questions about the various merits of the squad, and whether or not this England team would be able to live up to their label of third favourites for the tournament.
Since then a lot more football has been played, and it does appear that Englnad were not the only team who have failed to play to their potential thus far. That is not to say that the USA didn’t play well, but for a team that is supposed to be third favourites, England should really have been expected to win the game.
But that has gone and we now move on to Cape Town where we go toe to toe against the Desert Foxes of Algeria who face the possibility of their exit from the tournament being confirmed tomorrow evening if results earlier in the day go against them. Basically, if Slovenia beat the USA and Algeria lose against England then there is no way back for them and they will bow out of the tournament.
England will be boosted by the return of Gareth Barry to the team although the absence of Ledley King will ensure boss Fabio Capello has to have a think about who will take his place in defence along side John Terry. Jamie Carragher is tipped to get the nod although it remains to be seen if there will be a surprise inclusion such as Matthew Upson or Michael Dawson instead.
All eyes will be on who plays in goal for England after Rob Green’s calamitous error the other night, although it is expected that Green will persevered with. That should leave the England team looking something like;
England – Green, Johnson, Terry, Carragher, A Cole, Lennon, Barry, Lampard, Gerrard, Rooney Heskey.
Algeria should be no match for England, ‘should’ being the operative word as England again look to be stuttering when it really counts. Karim Ziani will have to be watched as he has the ability to pull the strings from the midlfield and open up an England defence that is a little lacking in pace.
Ironically, another calamity ‘keeper looks likely to retain his place in goal for Algeria as Faouzi Chaouchi looks to put his own blunder against Slovenia behind him, despite suffering from a knee injury sustained in training. Abdelkader Ghezzal will definately miss out as he serves a suspension for his red card picked in their last outing. They lined up against Slovenia with a team of;
Algeria – Chaouchi, Bougherra, Belhadj, Yahia, Halliche, Lacen, Ziani, Yebda, Foued Kadir, Djebbour, Matmour
England simply have to win in Cape Town tomorrow, and whilst I am at it, a draw in the other game between the USA and Slovenia wouldn’t go amiss either. We have seen how impressive ze Germans were in their first group game, although how much of that can be attributed to a poor Australia side on the night is open for debate.
Whatever happens, if we can manage to top the group and avoid ze Germans then our path through the competition becomes that little bit easier, although is anything ever easy as far as England are concerned?
Come on England!
NUFCBlog Author: toonsy
toonsy has written 643 articles on this blog.
Do you really think Hesky gets the start? His play was as dreadful as Green’s I thought…not that I minded of course. He just looked worthless out there.