England continued their dismal 2010 World Cup performance today with a 0-0 draw against Algeria.

After England’s 1-1 draw last week against the United States, everyone expected England to come out guns a-blazing against Algeria. But the way they played was embarrassing. Wayne Rooney was absolutely abysmal yet again for England. And as he was walking off the pitch, he mouthed something into the TV cameras.

The remaining England players played poorly too. The only positive was a safe performance by David James but he wasn’t really tested that much.

For an England team that came into this tournament with so much hope and desire, this feels like one broken promise after another. As a follower of English football, you have to wonder what’s going through the minds of the players. How can they be so inept in a game that they could and should have won so comfortably?

Having said that, Algeria played bravely and put on a admirable defensive performance. So many times when it looked like England was going to score, Algeria would get in a last ditch-tackle to prevent England from scoring. Algeria must have learned a lot about how to prevent England from scoring by watching how the USA defended against England last week.

For England supporters, this was yet another poor performance by England in a tournament where they have a golden opportunity to shine. England coach Fabio Capello, despite his club track record, has been unable to make a difference with his squad. And his decision to start Heskey and Barry seemed to backfire. Peter Crouch and Joe Cole would have been much more useful, but Capello must see something with those two accomplished players that prevents them from starting for England. What that is, I do not know.

England now goes into their last game of the group with a game against Slovenia. The Eastern European team are capable of beating England if Capello’s side plays the way they did today. As for Algeria, they’ll have a lot of confidence going into their game against the United States.