The Three Lions opened up with an unconvincing performance against USA, which ended 1-1 after Rob Green’s howler allowed Clint Dempsey’s weak effort to cancel out Steven Gerrard’s early strike.

Algeria were the better side in their first game against Slovenia on Sunday but lost 1-0 after a goalkeeping error of their own from Fawzi Chaouchi, which came after the sending-off of striker Abdelkader Ghezzal, who will of course be suspended for tomorrow’s game.

Following England’s performance, Rooney had claimed that he and his team-mates will pick up their first win on Friday, which is 1/4 in the match betting, even if they are not at their best again.

However, Algeria (12/1 to win, 9/2 the draw) appear to have been angered by the comments and believe that, despite the fact they currently prop up the table, all the pressure going into the match is on the favourites.

“Rooney can say what he wants,” said Madjid Bougherra. “It’s his problem. We will play to win this game. We want to qualify as well.

“Algeria always react when we are under pressure. You saw that in the play-off against Egypt.”

The Desert Foxes are currently ranked 22 places below England in the world rankings but upset Egypt in a play-off in October to make it to the finals, although they went on to lose to their arch rivals in the African Cup of Nations earlier this year.

England (8/1 in the outright market) have come under-fire from all quarters after their opening draw and Algeria coach Rabah Saadane feels that it is the Premier League stars who will be feeling the heat in Cape Town.

“England have their backs to the wall,” Saadane said. “We have nothing to lose and have everything to win.”

It is a thought echoed by midfielder Ryad Boudebouz, who added: “England are the team under pressure. They are the ones who claimed that they came here to win the World Cup.”

USA have the chance to go top of the group earlier in the day when they take on Slovenia, who could of course book a place in the knockout stages with a victory of their own, before the final group games take place next Wednesday.

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Algeria

The Wolves midfielder came on as a late substitute in the Desert Foxes’ disappointing defeat to Slovenia on Sunday, which left the north Africans with a mountain to climb if they are to progress from Group C. (Algeria 20/1 to qualify).

Algeria, who are making their first appearance in the tournament for 24 years now, have to beat England and the USA in consecutive games to make the last 16

Against Slovenia, Algeria had the upper hand throughout the match, playing most of the football but losing their shape after substitute striker Abdelkader Ghezzal was sent off for two bookable offences, and eventually  went down to a late Robert Koren strike.

However. the midfielder believes his side are over the disappointment of the defeat and are looking forward to the prospect of facing England on Friday.

“It was a disappointing performance because we didn’t deserve to lose,” he said.

“What we have to do is say it is finished now and look forward. Now we have two big matches and we have to be focused for England.

“We showed against Slovenia that we can do something. We will see against England. We need to be focused and we need to be confident.

Both sides fell foul to goalkeeping errors in their first game and the selection between the sticks will be one of the main talking points in the build up to the match.

Robert Green failed to hold Clint Dempsey’s long range shot to give the USA a draw and the Algeria goalkeeper Faouzi Chaouchi was at fault for the Slovenian winner on Sunday. Algeria coach Rabah Saadane has been quick to back his goalkeeper and has guaranteed his place for the game against England. However England coach Fabio Capello has been a little more reluctant to support his goalkeeper and speculation is rife that he is set to be replaced and the midfielder is reluctant to blame his goalkeeper for the error

“I don’t know, I’m not the coach,” he said.

“We saw the England goalkeeper making a mistake so it is not his (Chaouchi’s) fault. I am disappointed for him.

“Everyone makes a mistake in football: sometimes it’s the goalkeeper, sometimes it’s me, sometimes another player.”

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Karim Ziani scored the only goal of the match from the penalty spot in the second half as coach Rabah Saadane answered some of the critics who rounded on him in the defeat in Ireland last week.

The squad Saadane used included defensive pillars Madjid Bougherra and Antar Yahia as well as Medhi Lacen in midfield, while under-fire Yazid Mansouri kept his place in the starting line-up despite his poor showing against Ireland.

Srecko Katanec’s UAE team were well organised early on and put pressure on Faouzi Chaouchi on two occasions.

Algeria should have taken the lead in the 17th minute after an inspired run by Ziani who found Rafik Djebbour in the box but the AEK Athens forward failed to get on the end of the pass.

The game was a sloppy yet energetic affair, with the UAE more than holding their own against their World Cup-bound opponents.

Forwards Matar and Ahmed Khalil were doing their best to trouble the resolute Algerian backline while the Fennecs attempted to inject as much pace into the game as possible, desperately in search of their first goal in three matches.

The start of the second half saw Khalil once again pestering the Algerians with his constant pressure but Chaouchi was alert and brave to come out of his goal and make a vital clearance.

Four minutes into the second half, Algeria won a penalty when Sabil handled the ball in his area. Ziani stepped up and blasted the ball past Humaid with a powerful shot to give the Desert Foxes a 1-0 lead.

Faisal Khalil was subbed into the match for Al Shihi in the 54th minute as Katanec looked for more offensive solutions. Saadane countered by putting in Ghezzal for Rafik Saifi, Djebbour for Boudebouz, and Foued Kadir for Mansouri.

Algeria dominated possession for the rest of the encounter but still couldn’t add a second and remain without a goal from open play in their last three four outings.

Saadane said after the game: “This game was a good test for us. It was very tough and a high level.

“It demonstrated the capabilities of the team, especially with the players returning from injury and took us a step closer to where we want to be. There was a lot of willingness on the part of players, who have given a great deal in these last few weeks.”

He added: “Among the positives are the physicality of the players. We played an attacking game today to try and win, given our status as a World Cup team.

“There were many problems with ball retention. No one could keep the ball and I asked the players at half-time to improve on this and they did in the second half. There are still some problems in attack, where our finishing was lacking. Hopefully we’ll have this during the World Cup.”

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