cape town'da düzenlenen kura çekilişi sonrasında dünya kupası'nda aynı gruba düşen takımlar psikolojik savaşa zaman kaybetmeden başladılar. ilk girişim cezayirli orta saha oyuncusu majid bougherra'dan geldi. bougherra, cezayir'in ingiltere'yi yenebilecek kapasitede olduğunu söyledi.
ingiltere'nin charlton takımında oynayan bougherra "ingiltere fabio capello ile fiziksel ve taktiksel açıdan bizden daha güçlü olabilir ancak onlar çok kişisel bir futbol oynuyorlar. bizim artımız ise inancımız." dedi.
algeria held england to a goalless draw in the group c encounter in cape town, leaving both sides with a chance of qualification for the round of 16 of the fifa world cup™. although most of the play was dominated by england, it was the north africans, 22 places below fabio capello's men in the fifa/coca-cola world ranking who were the happier of the two teams at the final whistle
all the talk pre-match surrounded capello's starting xi, with the italian selecting david james in favour of robert green, the keeper culpable for clint dempsey's equaliser against usa. out too went james milner for the fit-again gareth barry, while jamie carragher deputised for the injured ledley king. the early signs were encouraging for england who began pressing from the first whistle. their passing certainly looked crisper than what was on display during last saturday's 1-1 draw in rustenburg and they created several good chances during a first half, that while ending goalless, had plenty of entertainment value.
england captain steven gerrard had the game's first real opportunity when he almost caught rais mbolhi out with a dipping shot. then emile heskey rose highest from barry's inswinging corner from the right, but failed to direct his header on target. the patient build-up, all too infrequent in the three lions' last performance, was proving beneficial. yet it was by no means one-way traffic. algeria fired their first warning sign when karim ziani's cross found hassan yebda, whose back-header landed comfortably into the grasp of james. karim matmour and ziani also had attempts on goal during a point midway through the opening 45 minutes when the desert foxes enjoyed a territorial advantage.
england came to life again thanks to the prompting of wayne rooney, who dropped deeper to increase his influence. a move began by the manchester united man saw aaron lennon find frank lampard who forced mbolhi into a scrambling one-handed save from 12 yards. barry and rooney both tested the keeper on the stroke of half time, but algeria had more than earned being level at the break.
only some sublime defending from madjid bougherra denied gerrard a clear scoring opportunity after the interval, when rooney's intelligent flick-on seemed destined to set up the liverpool midfielder. as time ticked on, though, england's frustrations at those missed opportunities grew, never more so than when gerrard himself passed the ball straight at an algeria defender, with rooney and lampard lurking in the box.
that said, it took a last-gasp intervention from rafik halliche to prevent england from taking the lead. gerrard fed heskey in the box and with the striker's shot apparently destined to hit the target or at least present rooney with the simplest of tap-ins, the defender's outstretched leg deflected the ball over the bar. from the resulting corner, taken by lampard, gerrard's bullet header was claimed at the first attempt by mbolhi. england were knocking at the door, but just not finding an answer. either that, or they were finding the door firmly closed in their face by bougherra, who was simply outstanding at the heart of the defence.
but the england fans, who made up the majority of the crowd at the green point stadium cared little of the merits of the opposition and showed their frustration by booing a wayward lampard effort and again when the full-time whistle went. capello, on the occasion of his 64th birthday, left the arena with his head bowed, as did the majority of the england players. it all comes down to the final group matches with england playing current section leaders slovenia in port elizabeth and usa facing algeria in pretoria.
yardımcı hakemler: rafael ilyasov (uzb), bakhadyr kochkarov (kgz)
4. hakem: michael hester (nzl)
ingiltere: david james (gk), glen johnson, ashley cole, steven gerrard (c), john terry, aaron lennon (dk. 63 shaun wright-phillips), frank lampard, wayne rooney, gareth barry (dk. 84 peter crouch), jamie carragher, emile heskey (dk. 74 jermain defoe)
titelkandidat muss sich auch gegen algerien mit einem unentschieden begnügen – james im tor
als einer der wm-favoriten ins turnier gestartet, muss england auch nach dem zweiten spiel auf den ersten sieg warten. nach dem torlosen unentschieden gegen algerien gerät das erreichen des achtelfinales in gefahr.
kapstadt. das unternehmen wm-sieg bleibt für england eine zähe angelegenheit: nach dem ernüchternden 0:0 gegen sich aufopfernd wehrende algerier stehen die stars aus der premier league noch ohne sieg da und müssen nun das abschließende gruppenspiel gegen slowenien gewinnen, um ein peinliches aus in der vorrunde zu vermeiden.
ein wesentliches kapitel der partie wurde schon vor dem anpfiff geschrieben. robert green, gerade erst zur nummer eins befördert, ist nach seinem fehlgriff im auftaktspiel gegen die usa seinen posten schon wieder los, der ebenfalls schon häufig in der heimat verspottete routinier david james durfte gegen algerien wieder das tor der „three lions“ bewachen. ja, england und seine torleute: dieses ebenso kuriose wie unendliche thema ist um eine weitere episode reicher. soviel vorweg: der 39-jährige blieb gegen die nordafrikaner ohne patzer und lässt damit eine ganze fußball-nation (vorerst) aufatmen.
ein wesentliches problem bleibt aber: den briten fehlt es bei den spielen in südafrika an der leichtigkeit. von der souveränität, mit der die elf von fabio capello durch die qualifikation spaziert ist, ist nicht viel übrig geblieben. statisch und häufig zu durchsichtig kamen die engländer in der ersten halbzeit daher. frank lampard, sonst der motor im team, fand bis auf einen torschuss in der 33. minute zunächst gar nicht statt. das wesentliche manko: lief der ball mitunter noch ganz passabel durchs mittelfeld, war spätestens am strafraum der algerier endstation. die letzte pass kam einfach nicht an, wayne rooney wartete in vorderster linie vergeblich auf passable anspiele. torschüsse des manu-stars vor der pause: null.
vielleicht waren die engländer ja auch überrascht von der forschen herangehensweise der algerier. die elf um gladbachs stürmer karim matmour musste nach dem 0:1 zum auftakt gegen slowenien den weg nach vorn suchen, um die chancen aufs erreichen des achtelfinales irgendwie zu wahren – und tat dies durchaus beeindruckend. als aktivposten erwies sich dabei der wolfsburger karim ziani, der die englische hintermannschaft immer wieder beschäftigte. allein, zwingende tormöglichkeiten blieben mangelware, sehr zur freude von james und den britischen fans. kleine randnotiz: auch bei den algeriern stand in rais m’bohli ein neuer schlussmann im tor, nachdem fawzi chaouchi gegen slowenien entscheidend gepatzt hatte.
die krassen außenseiter weigerten sich auch nach der pause beharrlich, sich in die rolle des statisten zu fügen. konsequenz: die engländer bekamen keinen zugriff auf das spiel und schafften es einfach nicht, klare aktionen zu initiieren. die verunsicherung war spür-, das fehlende konzept sichtbar. torchancen entstanden allenfalls nach einzelaktionen; in der 63. minute hatte rooney pech, als ihm der ball im strafraum versprang. auch die hereinnahme des zwei-meter-stürmers peter crouch half am ende nicht mehr.
ingiliz sunday mirror gazetesi, ingiltere-cezayir maçı sonrası soyunma odasına giren ve david beckham'ı azarlayan taraftarı buldu. kıbrıs rum kesimi asıllı olan pavlos joseph olduğu belirlenen taraftar, "güvenlik görevlisine tuvaleti sordum. ardından elimi kolumu sallaya sallaya soyunma odasına girdim. 'madem buradayım; bir şeyler söyleyeyim' dedim. beckham'a dönüp, 'david buraya gelmek için dünya kadar para harcadık. ancak takımın durumu utanç verici. bununla ilgili ne yapmayı düşünüyorsun' sorusunu sordum. bana cevap vermedi ve güvenlik beni odadan çıkarttı" diye konuştu.
şok cezayir beraberliği, ingiliz medyasını yoldan çıkardı. maçın golsüz sona ermesinin sebebini, cezayir kalesine konan güvercinin büyülü olmasına bağlayan the sun, büyücüden görüş aldı!
cezayir ile 0-0 berabere kalarak grupta art arda ikinci beraberliğiyle hayal kırıklığı yaratan ingiltere'ye büyü yapıldığı iddiası ortalığı karıştırdı. ingiliz gazetesi the sun, karşılaşma esnasında cezayir kalesinin üzerine konan güvercinin büyülü olduğunu ve takımın bu yüzden gol atamadığını iddia etti. gazeteye konuşan büyü uzmanı shaman olga mokwena, "cezayir'i destekleyen birisi büyücüye giderek başvuruda bulunmuş olabilir. o güvercini gördüm ve çok şaşırdım. çünkü normal olarak maçın oynandığı saatlerde güvercinlerin çoktan uyumuş olması lazım. ama o uyanıktı. o anda bu kuş cezayir kalesini korumak için orada" diye konuştu. mokwena büyünün bozulması için oyuncuların içinde ağaç kabuğunun toz haline getirilmesiyle elde edilen karışımın bulunduğu suda yıkanmaları gerektiğini öne sürdü.
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