Missed chances, disallowed goals and more disappointment for England

Wayne Rooney responded angrily to boos from England supporters frustrated by the team’s goalless draw.

Another day of the World Cup dawned with more expectations from fans of goals, greatness and glory. Impressive Germany would take to the field against Serbia, hoping to notch up another three points, and Slovenia could secure a last-16 place with a win over the USA. It was also England’s second chance to impress after their disappointing draw with the USA as they came face to face with bottom of the group Algeria.

The day’s action kicked off with Germany against Serbia. After Germany’s fantastic 4-0 win against Australia in their opener and Serbia’s poor display against Ghana, the outcome of this match wasn’t in much dispute. However, football once against proved its pundits wrong as Serbia pulled off a shock 1-0 win. The match was heavily influenced by Klose’s sending off just after the half hour mark. The German striker was shown a first yellow somewhat unfairly after clipping his opponent’s heels and minutes later he received a second yellow, and red, after tackling his opponent from behind. Serbia scored only a minute later when an excellent cross into the box was headed down to the feet of Jovanovic, who calmly fired the ball past the keeper to give Serbia the lead. Jovanovic celebrated wildly, jumping over the advertisement boards and rushing into the adoring fans. Germany looked shaken but bounced back and piled the pressure on the Serbian defence. Khedira slammed his shot against the crossbar and Podolski missed a hatful of chances, clipping one wide and another into the side-netting, as Germany ought an equaliser.

Germany’s best chance came in the second-half when they were awarded a penalty after Serbian defender Vidic bizarrely stretched his hand out to deflect a cross, despite there being no German player in the box behind him. However, Podolski once again failed to find the back of the net as he took a poor penalty that was saved easily by Serbian keeper Stojkovic down to his left. Serbia capitalised on Germany’s shaky performance and twice almost doubled their lead as Jankovic’s shot hit the foot of the post and Zigic headed onto the crossbar. Despite Serbia not making the most of their numerical advantage, they won the game 1-0, leaving three out of four teams in Group D on three points and promising a very exciting round of last games.

Next up were Slovenia and the USA and this turned out to be the best match of the day. A win for Slovenia would make them only the second team through to the last 16, after Argentina, and this looked likely as they breezed to a 2-0 lead by half-time. Slovenia looked well-organised and passed the ball easily around the USA players. Their first goal came after only 13 minutes when Birsa hit a stunning strike from distance that whizzed past the motionless USA keeper Howard. USA created some impressive build-up play themselves but failed to produce anything in the final third. Then Ljubijankic doubled Slovenia’s lead minutes before half time when he escaped the defender and slotted the ball low into the net under Howard, giving Slovenia a well-deserved, comfortable lead at the break. A team celebration followed each goal, with the players gathering and making strange hand gestures in the air, but who can blame them as it is only their second World Cup.

USA coach Bob Bradley made a double change at half time and the effect was immediate as Landon Donovan raced down the right and fired high into the roof of the net from a tight angle only three minutes after the restart. USA piled pressure on the Slovenian defence for the next 40 minutes and finally scored an equaliser with 82 minutes played when Michael Bradley, the coach’s son, poked the ball past Slovenian keeper Handanovic. USA hungrily sought the winner and thought they had won when Edu scored from a volley from a free-kick. However, the goal was harshly disallowed for an alleged pull, leaving USA players furious. The thrilling game finished 2-2 and both teams would be eagerly watching the other match in the group later to assess their chances of qualifying.

This other match was England against Algeria. After England’s draw in their first game, their fans would be hoping for a better performance and three points from this match. Apart from the unexpected change of James for Green, the forced change of Carragher for King and the return of Gareth Barry, the team sheet was unchanged from the previous match, perhaps not filling the fans with confidence after England’s stuttering performance last time out. However, they couldn’t have expected what they were about to see. England played poorly in every area of the pitch as passes went awry, play fell apart too quickly and the defence looked vulnerable. The team lacked inspiration and despite having the majority of the possession in the first half, they created few chances. Midfielders Gerrard and Lampard both forced saves from Algerian keeper M'Bolhi but in truth he was barely tested at all. Algeria looked comfortable on the ball and would have caught England out several times on the break if Barry and Johnson hadn’t intervened.

No improvement from England came in the second half despite Capello sending on Wright-Phillips, Defoe and Crouch and England continued to pass badly and attack weakly. England pressed until the final whistle but their lacklustre performance resulted in a 0-0 draw, making a win vital as they take on Slovenia on Wednesday in their final game. Defender Carragher will miss the match after picking up a yellow card and with King still injured, perhaps we will see a first-ever cap for Michael Dawson. Algeria’s team celebrated ecstatically at the final whistle as they came away with a well-deserved point. England were booed off the pitch by many of their fans, which left striker Rooney unhappy, but surely he will agree that this was a disappointing and unacceptable display from a team ranked eighth in the world by FIFA.

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