England paid the price of their own arrogance when they were comfortably contained by an Algerian side playing for Arab pride, according to some of the Desert Foxes' leading stars.

Fabio Capello's squad's World Cup hopes have been left in the balance as a result of a goalless draw with Algeria in Cape Town on Friday.

Wayne Rooney and Company never looked like breaking down an Algerian side that had been fired up by Rooney's pre-match comments that England would not need to be at their best to win the match.

"In a World Cup, you always have to respect your opponent," said the Rangers defender Madjid Bougherra. "We showed that we were worthy of at least a minimum of respect."

Striker Ryad Boudebouz admitted that the Algerians had taken particular pleasure from making Rooney regret his ill-judged pre-match remarks, which included an admission that Nadir Belhadj, the Portsmouth defender, was the only Algerian he had heard of.

"It's true that getting a draw made us particularly happy because of the way the English under-estimated us with their comments in the media in the run-up to the match.

"We put our heart and soul into this match because we were determined to show them that we were not in this World Cup by accident."

The goalless draw has left England needing to beat Slovenia on Wednesday to be sure of progressing to the knockout stages and the Algerians would not be surprised if Capello's squad are forced to book an early flight back to London.

"To be perfectly honest, I expected much better from then," said veteran coach Rabah Saadane, who believes England were taken by surprise by the ease with which Algeria were able to retain possession.

"I don't know what was going on with them. They were better against the United States but they definitely didn't have their best day against us.

"It's up to their coach to draw the conclusions from that, not me, but it is clear that our short-passing game gave them problems."

Portsmouth midfielder Hassan Yebda queried whether Capello had, as many believed prior to the World Cup, got the balance of his midfield right.

"Everyone knows that Frank Lampard is not the same player for England as he is in a Chelsea shirt," Yebda said. "And maybe his style and qualities are too similar to (Steven) Gerrard for them to play together."

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