Steven Gerrard, captain of an England side on the brink of
ignominy, looked visibly shaken as he offered a possible escape
from the ever-deepening World Cup hole he and his team-mates have
dug themselves into.
Gerrard, the man who wore the armband and therefore shouldered
his share of responsibility for Friday night's abject 0-0 draw with
Algeria, wisely offered no excuses for a desperate result that
leaves England on the brink of elimination with just two points to
their name from two winnable fixtures.
But after failing to see off either the United States or
Algeria, this deflated group are left with no option but to beat
Slovenia in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday night to reach the last
16.
Rally the troops: Steven Gerrard needs to ensure
his team mates are up for the Slovenia clash
Remember the euphoria of last December when England were pitched
into the same group as three perceived lightweights in USA, Algeria
and Slovenia.
They were even hailed by the bookmakers as third favourites for
the greatest prize in the game behind Spain and Brazil and informed
they were effectively being handed a bye into the knockout
stage.
How the landscape has changed. Gerrard's withering post-mortem
into Friday night made you wonder where it has all gone so dismally
wrong.
'We weren't aggressive enough against Algeria,' said the
Liverpool midfielder. 'We never pressed the ball and won it back
quickly enough. We never showed enough urgency. We certainly
weren't clinical enough around the box.'
Hardly the attributes of the competition's third favourites.
England now have four days to rediscover those basic skills or they
face a terrible humiliation.
Blame game: Wayne Rooney looked disinterested on
Friday night
'We need to find something quick for Wednesday night,' said
Gerrard. 'We need to improve and improve quickly. We need to find
more spirit. This is the last chance. What's done is done. There's
no looking back. We can't change that.
'As captain, I've got to make sure we don't feel sorry for
ourselves and we've got to go out on Wednesday night and perform a
lot better.'
In complete contrast to Wayne Rooney's angry condemnation of the
fans who booed the players off the pitch in Cape Town, Gerrard
joined with England team-mates John Terry and Frank Lampard in
offering hope and optimism that their journey halfway around the
world has not been wasted.
'The fans pay good money,' he added. 'They have been terrific in
the two games, getting behind us and showing us support and we need
to produce more for them.
'Hopefully on Wednesday we can send them away smiling rather
than the way they are feeling now.'
So what did go wrong against Algeria, when England produced one
of the most laboured and disjointed performances for many
years?
Gerrard himself was at a loss to put his finger on it. 'I
thought the first game would get the cobwebs out of the system and
I'm very surprised with the result against Algeria,' he said.
'I thought we prepared really well for this game, going into the
game we felt good and, unfortunately, we haven't delivered the
result we wanted.
'It puts a lot more pressure on ourselves for Wednesday, but as
a player you've got to thrive on that pressure and look forward to
it and hope we can get the result we want.
'There's a lot of pressure on the guys, there's no lying about
that. There's a lot of tension because we want to stay in this
tournament for a long time.
'But we knew that coming into it, that there was always going to
be big pressure and as players you've got to accept that. You've
got to play under that pressure and play well. As players, we don't
want to go home. We want to stay with the supporters and have a
successful tournament. But we will only do that if we improve on
our performance against Algeria.'
Shambles: England goalkeeper David James claims the
ball against Algeria
Terry acknowledged the disappointment of England followers, but
urged them to get behind the team, declaring: 'The players are
feeling exactly the same way as the fans - frustrated.
'At the same time, we need to win our last game. It's as simple
as that.
'There's one game left and we just need everyone behind us.
There's no point everyone criticising. We haven't done it up to
now. We need to do it in the next game. If we do it in the next
game, we go through.
'If we don't win the next game, then is the time to be worried.
We still have a chance of going through in the group and still
topping it. It's in our hands. If we win, we could be top of the
group and we move on.
Frustrated Fabio: Capello has demanded his side
show more spirit
'But first and foremost is getting through the group. We have
made it difficult for ourselves but nothing should change.
'We shouldn't be changing the way we play and we shouldn't be
worried about other sides because, after what I've seen so far,
other teams don't worry me at all. But it's a must to get through
the group if we want to go on.'
He added: 'I'm urging everyone not to criticise us too much. We
understand the frustration of you guys [the media] and the fans.
We've got one game left. It's in our own hands.'
Frustrated: Wayne Rooney makes his feeling about
being booed known
Jamie Carragher's suspension after two yellow cards means Terry
will have either Matthew Upson or Michael Dawson as his central
defensive partner against Slovenia.
'Whoever comes in alongside me will be fine,' the Chelsea
captain said. 'I've got four or five days to the next game so there
will be enough preparation on the training field.'
His Stamford Bridge team-mate Lampard was equally upbeat,
insisting: 'We've gone into one-off games before and come through,
and if you'd said before the tournament, "You have to beat Slovenia
to go through", we'd have fancied it.'
