Algeria are rated at 20/1 to qualify from Group A and have gained added motivation for Friday night’s crunch clash from Wayne Rooney, who has confidently predicted that England will not need to be at their best to take the three points.

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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