The frustration of the English contingent at Green Point Stadium in Cape Town was made very clear at the final whistle of their woeful goalless draw with Algeria.

England striker Rooney trudged off following an ineffective performance before turning and saying to the television cameras: "It's nice to see your home fans booing you."

Having drawn 1-1 with the United States in their opening game, England now need to beat Slovenia next Wednesday to ensure they reach the last 16.

Rooney's team-mate Gareth Barry, who started in midfield after returning to fitness, did not share Rooney's anger.

"The fans come from England, they travel far and they spend a lot of money," he said.

"They probably deserve better. We were below par today."

Peter Crouch, a late substitute as Fabio Capello attempted to find a breakthrough, urged fans to stick with the team.

"Obviously it's disappointing, we want fans to have something to go home and cheer about," he said. "They made an effort to come here and it's a shame we didn't have anything to show for them tonight.

"Hopefully they'll come to the next game to see us go through."

Crouch's Tottenham club-mate Jermain Defoe was also sent on in the second half and while he does not blame fans for their reaction, he insists their support can help turn things around.

He said: "It's important for the fans to keep behind us because that's only going to help the team, and hopefully we'll win on Wednesday."

After Robert Green's error against the United States on Saturday Capello put David James in goal last night, giving the veteran keeper his first World Cup cap.

James was glad to have finally ended his long wait but unsurprisingly disappointed by the outcome in a game during which he was rarely called into action.

He said: "Defensively we were very good and Algeria, likewise, defensively were very, very good so unfortunately for the spectators it turned out to be a pretty miserable 0-0."

James, who is at his third World Cup as a squad member before finally getting a game, said: "It's been a long time, three attempts to play my first game, so that was nice.

"But any initial feelings were quickly put aside and I focused on trying to win the game.

"The situation is the same, it's a 23-man squad, the manager needs to find arguably the best XI to win games and as I said before, I knew me having the number one on my back didn't guarantee me starting matches.

"It's nice to play and keep a clean sheet, defensively it was a decent performance.

"We train hard now for a few days and wait for the selection again five minutes before we leave on Wednesday."