England under pressure as World Cup campaign sputters (Feature)

By Michael Logan Jun 19, 2010, 10:09 GMT

Cape Town - England's players were grim-faced as they left the field at Cape Town's Green Point stadium to a chorus of boos on Friday evening, and no wonder.

Fabio Capello's team of Premier League stars had just produced a performance even more insipid than their opening 1-1 draw with the US.

A 0-0 draw with Group C's supposed whipping boys Algeria, who lost to Slovenia in their opening game and are yet to score, leaves Gerrard, Lampard, Rooney et all facing a possible early exit.

England have not dropped out at the group stages since 1958, although they have failed to qualify at all several times in the interim period.

Capello's men can still decide their own fate, but they must beat surprise package Slovenia next Wednesday to be sure. Given their shocking form so far, that is far from guaranteed.

'We know we need to improve to beat Slovenia in the final group game and we'll be working hard over the next few days to do that,' said Gareth Barry, whose return to the midfield was supposed to free up Steven Gerrard to terrorise the Algeria defence.

'We'll be looking at this performance to see what we've done wrong and see where we can put it right,' he added.

The problem for Capello is that he seems to be struggling to understand the reasons behind the dismal showing from a team that breezed through qualification.

'I don't know if it was pressure or not a good performance, but ... we lost too many balls, too many passes,' he said. 'And I think it was not the team I know from training and the qualifiers.'

England's best chance of a dull match was a Frank Lampard shot from inside the box that was easily held by Algerian keeper M'Bolhi.

They failed to hold the ball or pass fluently, allowing Algeria to maintain possession.

The North Africans rarely threatened, although the English players on occasion looked to help them out - firing fierce back passes at David James, who came in as goalkeeper following Robert Green's blunder against the US.

Frankly, the big-name players looked far more nervous than their Algerian counterparts.

Capello went on to say he believes pressure may have been the culprit - which is unfortunate given the even greater burden his team carries going into the last game.

Barry acknowledged the expectations.

'It's important we keep the word pressure away from us,' he said. 'It's almost like a knockout game starting early on Wednesday and we have to be right for it.'

Apart from giving his players a relaxing foot massage and playing whale songs before each game, many feel Capello could help his players mentally prepare for the game by telling them if they will be on the field a bit earlier.

He waits until a few hours before the game to give players the nod.

What he will certainly have to do is change the way his players line up.

It would take a brave man to leave out Wayne Rooney, even though the Manchester United star has been dreadful so far and showed signs of cracking under the strain when he snarled at the boo boys.

If he answers the desperate cries from the English media, Capello will push Gerrard further up behind Rooney to provide a greater attacking threat.

Question marks have been raised over the respective abilities of Emile Heskey, with seven goals in 60 appearances for his country, and Aaron Lennon, who struggles to influence games at this level.

Prior to the World Cup, the lanky Peter Crouch had scored 21 goals in 38 games for England. He could be a better option up front. Armchair managers are also demanding a start for Joe Cole.

Whatever team Capello picks, the pressure is here to stay. How England handle it will be key.