England's World Cup camp is in danger of unravelling with lacklustre performances triggering a lashing from the home media and tensions simmering in camp
JOHANNESBURG: England's World Cup camp is in danger of unravelling with lacklustre performances triggering a lashing from the home media and tensions simmering in camp.
Striker Wayne Rooney's mediocre form in England's two drawn games has made him villain No 1 in the press, and the Manchester United man didn't help matters with a tirade to a television camera. "Nice to see your own fans booing you. If that's what loyal support isu00a0... for f--'s sake," is what Rooney is reported to have said.
The embarrassing draw with unfancied Algeria saw England have only one direct attempt at goal, a weak shot from Frank Lampard.
Goalkeeper David James hinted at uneasiness in the England camp, especially manager Fabio Capello's habit of naming his team very close to kick-off, leaving many players guessing.
Blame it on Jabulani PLAYERS and coaches are still whinging about the unpredictability of the Jabulani.
The World Cup ball mesmerised two goalkeepers on Saturday.
Ghana's Richard Kingston spilled a free-kick into the path of Brett Holman as Australia pinched a 1-1 draw in Rustenburg.
Japan's custodian could barely handle a shot from Holland's Wesley Sneijder that ended up in the net to give the Dutch a 1-0 win in Durban.
Top goalkeepers have not had a good word to say about it. Spain's Iker Casillas has dubbedu00a0 the Jabulani "rotten'', Italy's Gianluigi Buffon called it "unpredictable'', while Brazil's Julio Cesar slammed it, saying this ball looks like it comes from a "grocery store''.
At least Mexico has taken the novel step of using oblong-shaped gridiron American footballs at training to sharpen their keepers' reactions to the bounce of the World Cup ball at altitude.
Oscar Perez kept a clean sheet for Mexico against France the other night, so obviously the practice with the pigskin has helped.
