Algeria holds England to a 0-0 draw

With a sullen Wayne Rooney scoreless for a seventh straight match, England lacked heart and inspiration, struggling throughout against an opponent fighting to avoid becoming the first to be eliminated from the World Cup.

"We weren't aggressive enough," England captain Steven Gerrard said. "We never had the cutting edge."

The result set up a Group C finale on Wednesday with England taking on Slovenia and the United States playing Algeria. Slovenia leads the group with four points, followed by England and the United States with two each. Algeria has one point.

"We got no excuses," Gerrard said. "We got to go and win the last game."

England coach Fabio Capello benched bungling goalkeeper Robert Green and brought back 39-year-old David James to boost confidence in the defense. With the return of defensive midfielder Gareth Barry, others would be unleashed to provide offensive sparkle against a tournament outsider.

But England still produced its second dud in as many games. Rooney, touted as one of the World Cup's biggest stars, struggled again and failed to muscle his way past the sturdy Algerian defense.

Algeria coach Rabah Saadane also switched his goalkeeper, putting in M'bohi Rais Ouhed after Fawzi Chaouchi had made a blunder in the opening loss to Slovenia.

Algeria, fighting for World Cup survival, never dug in defensively like so many underdogs but took the game to England and looked good during the first half and good enough afterward.

Instead of Rooney, it was Karim Ziani who thrilled the crowd with his good moves.

High in the stands, Britain's princes Harry and William were looking on glumly despite being surrounded by almost nothing but England fans.

It was clear England was playing effectively a home game at the Green Point Stadium when tens of thousands among the crowd of belted out "God Save the Queen." Shouts of "England, England" even drowned out the vuvuzelas; Kazinform cites China Daily.

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