Further reading
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Right, that’s just about it for today, as we transfer our gaze to yer actual football matches. Join us again, bright and breezy, early tomorrow morning. Thanks for all your comments and emails. Bye.
Here’s where to go now:
Or in Japanese here:
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Broadcasting news: England’s win over Tunisia was the most-watched TV programme of 2018 so far, with an average audience of 13.7m watching and ratings peaking at 18.3m during the closing stages. Take that, the Royal Wedding.
Which has prompted a scheduling suggestion from a colleague:
They should make the next Royal Wedding a night game. Give it a chance https://t.co/yUQndjZTgS
— Paul Campbell (@campbellwpaul) June 19, 2018
The England squad members who didn’t play last night are doing a bit of limbering up out on the training ground back in Repino (they all flew straight back last night). Meanwhile, here’s a bit of pre-match reading for you before Colombia v Japan gets underway – Stuart James on the long-awaited World Cup finals debut of Radamel Falcao:
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Watching Sky Sports scrabble around for footage during a major tournament is always a joy, a biennial turning of the tables if you will: they’re about to treat us to some long-distance shots of England’s training session, to supplement a morning of world exclusives showing us that people in pubs supporting football teams celebrate when their team scores.
The Colombia v Japan minute-by-minute is now go, in both English and Japanese:
Anyway, enough VAR talk: today’s three matches all look tough to predict. Colombia should have too much for Japan but Group H feels the hardest to call overall, with Poland, Senegal and Colombia all fancying their chances of topping the group. Will the fact that no African side have taken a point yet burden a talented Senegal this afternoon? And in normal circumstances you’d fancy an Egypt side with a fit and firing Mo Salah to beat Russia but the opening round threw some of those assumptions up in the air.
England fitness news: Dele Alli is to have a scan on his thigh injury today and won’t take part in the training session due to start shortly. I was surprised he stayed on as long as he did last night – he didn’t look at his game at all after half-time.
Meanwhile, Martin Gamage emails in: “I completely agree with Jim4Fish. Giving each team a number of reviews is I think the way to finesse VAR. That gets around the issue of the officials having to identify a ‘clear and obvious’ error as that would then be defined by the relevant captain [or coach, or whoever]. And it would be up to the team to hold the reviews back for key moments in the game – like a penalty appeal or a red card. As an aside on last night’s game, was the issue with VAR on the Kane challenges that there was no break in play for the referee to be advised to take another look? I don’t know the answer to that but the way it’s framed at the moment it seems the referee needs to give the decision before it gets looked at no?”
There wasn’t really a break in play for Sweden’s penalty yesterday either, but the referee did eventually halt play for that.
Away from the World Cup, the juggernaut that is the Champions League will always be with us. And the first qualifying round has just been drawn, which pits Celtic against the Armenian side Alashkert. The New Saints face KF Shkendija, Crusaders of Northern Ireland face Ludogorets of Bulgaria and Cork City have been drawn against Legia Warsaw (Poland). Ties will be played just after the World Cup semis and final respectively, on July 10-11 and 17-18.
We’re already running at a 57% penalties-per-game rate in this tournament, the highest of any World Cup. Can’t see it dipping below that either to be honest, under VAR. Talking of which, a suggestion BTL from Jim4Fish:
Looking at the VAR thing, could some lessons not be learnt from cricket + tennis? there could be a Review option where each team can formally ask to have (3) incidents reviewed if they disagree with the initial decision (or lack thereof...). This might ensure that there is a formal way for teams to shed light on wrestling in the box etc. If the reviews are upheld, they keep them. If they are wrong then they lose one....like tennis as well. I don’t think this would be too complicated and could be restricted to incidents in the box only.
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David Squires’s latest cartoon is with us. Ronaldo’s relationship with the taxman, Patrice Evra’s punditry and Neymar’s barnet all get the treatment:
Thanks Ben. Morning/afternoon everyone. James Felix clearly has a different Twitter timeline from mine – saw plenty of complaining about refereeing during last night’s match. I suspect there might have been a different emphasis had Kane not popped up at the back stick just in the nick of time.
Talking of grievances over officiating, the Brazilian Football Confederation has asked Fifa why VAR was not used to review Switzerland’s equaliser against the tournament favourites on Sunday, and also complained that Gabriel Jesus was manhandled inside the penalty area and should have been awarded a penalty. “The CBF requires to know from Fifa the reason the technology was not used in key incidents during the game,” the Brazilian confederation said in a statement.
Fair? “There’s been far too little moaning about the refereeing last night, by far the worst in the tournament so far,” emails James Felix. “Not only did the ref not have any authority over the game, none of the team seemed to be officiating the game on the same rules as the other games. There has been a practice of not giving tight attacking offsides until after play has developed to allow for VAR, but in this game the linesmen were far too keen to raise their flag and were often wrong. Also they seemingly ignored the directive on cutting down on ‘wrestling’ in the box.”
My colleague, Tom Davies, will continue to guide you though the all going-ons ...
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Russia play their second match of the tournament tonight, in St Petersburg. They crushed Saudi Arabia 5-0 in their opener, but will surely not repeat that feat against Egypt this evening? Artem Dzyuba, who plays his club football in the city for Zenit, knows they have already silenced a few critics. “I can’t say they were the majority but, yes, there were people who didn’t believe in us,” he says. “Knowing that the whole country is cheering for us is an indescribable feeling.”
Could Poland prove dark horses in Russia? Any one of Senegal, Colombia, Japan and Adam Nawalka’s side will fancy themselves in what looks a fairly open Group H. Key to their hopes: Robert Lewandowski, of course, and Piotr Zielinski:
Keep your emails, tweets and thoughts below the line coming. “I can’t agree with Andrew Benton’s comments,” says Martin Gamage. “I didn’t think it looked like the old England at all. There was far more verve in the performance – at least initially – and when that burst of energy petered out, they stuck to their plan and style of play. Previous England teams would – I think – have panicked and started firing hopeful balls into the box, but this one kept plugging away in tricky circumstances and found a way to win. In fact, I had no doubt that they would win from half-time onwards, it just took a bit longer than was comfortable.”
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The view from the Adams Cafe, a slice of the huge peak audience (18.3m) who watched the game unfold on BBC One last night:
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Kyle Walker did not hide away from the penalty incident last night. “I’ve got my arms up, I think I did catch him,” he says. “In the Premier League, probably not [but] in the World Cup it might be a penalty.” Fair enough, Walker’s pace is a real asset in that back-three system and Kieran Trippier had a brilliant World Cup debut at right-wing back, making six key passes, more than any other player.
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Senegal’s head coach, Aliou Cissé, once of Birmingham City and Portsmouth, has been talking up the African nations before his side’s Group H opener against Poland.
I am certain that one day an African country will win the World Cup. It was some 25 years ago that African countries regularly came just to be a part of the World Cup. I think that things have developed but it’s more complicated in our continent – we have realities that are not evident in other continents. We trust our football, we have no complex, we have great players, now we need African coaches for our football to go ahead.
England’s back three looked pretty slick at times last night. As of Wednesday, one defender who just missed out on making the cut, James Tarkowski, will be planning for a European tour of a different kind with Burnley. Sean Dyche’s side are among those in the Europa League second qualifying round draw. “It’s another opportunity for us to show what we can do on a bigger stage,” says Tarkowski, who was forced to withdraw from Gareth Southgates’s five-man standby list after undergoing hernia surgery last month.
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What’s on the menu today?
• Colombia v Japan, Saransk, 1pm (BST)
• Poland v Senegal, Moscow, 4pm
• Russia v Egypt, St Petersburg, 7pm
And here’s a couple of sumptuous previews to whet the appetite:
Did Harry Kane’s winner paper over the cracks a little or was it a just reward after hundreds of chances? “I’m worried that the young England is exactly like the old England except younger,” emails Andrew Benton. “The bulldog style of pressuring the opponents is still there, with goals at set-pieces, but then so is the falling to bits a bit when that doesn’t work. Is the team, as a team, building its intelligence and flexibility in play on the field? Time will tell.”
Transfer nugget: in the latest twist of this summer’s protracted saga, Nabil Fekir has given a teeny update of sorts in the France press conference this morning, the day after his agent insisted “the story isn’t over” when quizzed over his client’s failed move to Liverpool. “It was great to see Jean-Michel Aulas (the Lyon president) yesterday but we did not at all discuss my situation,” Fekir says. “I am here with France, I am happy, and I am not here to discuss my personal situation. We will see about all that later. My knee is super-good. We work a lot on it, we reinforce it.”
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Reasons to be cheerful, courtesy of not Ian Dury but the England manager, who waxes lyrical, sort of, about strength in depth:
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Poland are in action against Senegal in Group H a little later, but that hasn’t stopped their go-to striker being touted for a transfer:
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Before getting bogged down in what’s coming up on day six, let’s indulge in England’s first win in the opening game at a World Cup since 2006 just that little longer. That team featuring Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard, Rooney and co 12 years ago was, on paper – as they say on Love Island – ludicrously easy to get excited about but it would be naive to put a ceiling on the class of 2018, wouldn’t it?
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Without doubt, one of the sweetest sights last night was surely the television cameras picking up Gareth Southgate’s instinctive words as the ball ran free after a superb stop by Mouez Hassen, the Tunisia goalkeeper, to deny John Stones. “Oh, where’s Harry?”
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Saudi Arabia could probably do with a helping hand of sorts – and not their plane catching fire en route to Rostov. After crashing to a 5-0 opening defeat against Russia, they meet Uruguay on Wednesday:
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Once the dust, and midges, had finally settled in Volgograd, there was another result to be had between a few of the usual, and more unusual suspects. On Twitter, there was Gary Lineker v Piers Morgan, part XXXIII, and Alan Shearer v ... Simon Schama. Lineker and Morgan exchanged the usual barbs, but the former probably came out on top in that Group I opener, labelling Morgan a “hacker”.
Not in Russia, but soon to be at Arsenal. The 26-year-old goalkeeper was left out of Germany’s 23-man squad for the tournament:
It’s coming home, isn’t it? England beat Tunisia in the best manner possible, especially if you were one of the many thousands bobbing up and down, limbs haywire in front of a big screen at the pub, a projector or at a mini fan-zone. From Leeds to Bristol and beyond, Harry Kane’s winner was priceless, for three points, for the rest of this week and perhaps the rest of the tournament in Russia.
If it had been 1‑1 there would have been a level of disappointment, and the result back home would be viewed differently, but the performance was very good. Maybe you run out of time, but we kept doing the right things and making good decisions. We had leaders on the field who kept delivering the right messages. We spoke this morning and covered being behind and in front in games, how we’d react being 1-1 with 15 minutes to go, and we had to keep probing and look for the win while not exposing ourselves on the counter … and good teams score late.
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It’s time for me to handover to my colleague Ben Fisher and ride off in to the antipodean sunset. Thanks for your company and apologies to those whose emails/tweets etc I couldn’t include.
Enjoy day six - to think we’ll soon be 17/64 games down and Russia 2018 will be very much well on its way; it’s happening too fast!
And speaking of physicality, some interesting comments out of the Australian camp ahead of their do-or-die second group match against Denmark, here’s Reuters:
The Socceroos believe Denmark is a mirror-image of themselves in terms of game style: physical, pragmatic, team-orientated.
“They are quite similar to ourselves in the way they set up and the way they go about things,” Australia defender Trent Sainsbury said.
“So it will be interesting to come up against a mirror.”
The contrast presumably being that the artisans of France were more cultured than their pragmatic first-round opponents. No pressure on teammate Tom Rogic but, he’s just been liked to Christian Eriksen.
An interesting side note that came out of yesterday’s Sweden v South Korea result was the confession from manager Shin Tae-yong that his side were “psychologically” intimidated by the larger Swedish team.
It’s a phenomenon Australian sides have certainly looked to exploit in AFC qualifications against East Asian nations, with Australia’s historic first-ever World Cup win coming against a Japanese side in 2006 that was subjected to a barrage of high balls as the then-Oceania representatives chased a late winner.
With Japan in action against Colombia today you wouldn’t imagine such an issue will arise, but perhaps for their second round match against Senegal, physicality could become a factor (especially if both sides are left winless after the opening round).
Anyone who watched Mexico v Germany however would assert that giving away a significant height disadvantage means nothing if the heart is willing; so has South Korea rolled out the white flag already on this front?
Incidentally, no pressure on Poland - but thus far at Russia 2018 every single team from Europe remains undefeated, except for, oh, the defending champions Germany.
It’s a remarkable start for Uefa in the battle of the confederations - can the Poles make it 13/14 today?
Conversely, Senegal will be battling for pan-African pride, with all four African nations losing their opening matches, which doesn’t bode well for them, if you’re particularly superstitious.
Iran flies the flag for Asia, having won their opening match. A relief for the world’s most populous region after it’s four representatives at Brazil 2014 won 0/12 of their group stage matches. Japan will look to match that result you’d imagine for East-Asian pride.
And but for Mexico’s upset result it would have been no wins from Concacaf, while Uruguay provide Conmebol’s solitary opening round win, an achievement Colombia will look to match today as well.
And to continue our tactical previews of Group H’s second match, and the final ‘first look’ at sides at the World Cup.
Here’s Poland:
And here’s Senegal:
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Meanwhile, to humour our good friends waking up across England this morning, we promise we won’t over-hype the opening Three Lions’ result only to establish the perfect terrain for the inevitable come down. But for even the most cynically hearted you can’t deny this is a nice sight:
What a feeling to score a winner for @England at the @FIFAWorldCup. Loved it! No less than we deserved. 🦁🦁🦁 #ThreeLions #ENG #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/Pq93wOKHAd
— Harry Kane (@HKane) June 18, 2018
Let’s turn our attention to the first of today’s three matches, Colombia v Japan, where if your knowledge of these two is a bit rusty, rest assured we have terrific squad previews courtesy the Guardian experts’ network.
Here’s Japan:
And here’s Colombia:
Returning to VAR and it’s first week assessment:
Our below the line commenter ‘USfan’ has the following contribution.
I’m pleased we are talking about VAR. The alternative was talking about all the games ruined by the lack of VAR, which is what we usually do.
France-Australia was put right by VAR. VAR was key to protecting the integrity of Peru-Denmark (even if Peru didn’t convert their penalty, it would have been massively unfair to Peru had it not been given, and their fans would understandably have felt robbed). It’s even good they reviewed incidents like Costa’s goal against Portugal.
Seems a pretty reasonable take. Although if it was anyone else in world football apart from Pepe perhaps Costa’s contact might have warranted a different outcome.
Snap poll, then - would you rather argue about a subjective interpretation from the seemingly objective VAR or the injustice of a simple error from a human referee?
I for one would never wish to have not experienced the sheer splendid drama of Graham Poll v Jo Simunic at Germany 2006, which no doubt the humourless VARs would have nipped in the bud.
By the end of the day we will also have got our first look at all the candidates for the Golden Boot race.
6/11 of our Guardian writers tipped Neymar or Gabriel Jesus to win pre-tournament, but are you ready to write off either Brazilian after their showings against Switzerland?
Cristiano Ronaldo may not have featured too prominently in many people’s reckoning given Portugal’s relative standing vis-a-vis the big favourites, but has the five-time Ballon D’Or winner already laid down a significant marker with the 51st hattrick of his career against what is on paper Portugal’s toughest Group B opponent?
His former national team coach, and club coach with Manchester United, Carlos Quieroz may be hoping not, as he looks to build from his side Iran’s opening win against Morocco.
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Another significant talking point that was always going to rear its head, given its World Cup debut in Russia, is the introduction of video assistant referees or VAR.
Designed to correct the more egregious examples of human error, is the system in its current format not just equally as subjective, given it’s hazy brief of correcting “clear and obvious errors”?
So almost a full round of matches in - what are your thoughts on video technology? Presumably this aligns a lot with how your team has fared thus far, as I don’t imagine South Korean or Australian fans will be knocking down my door with fervent praise for our new robot overlords.
Sean Ingles draws an interesting parallel to the introduction of new rulings surrounding the backpass in the Premier League ahead of the 1992-93 season. Do you agree with him?
As we approach the conclusion of the opening round of group stage matches today it is perhaps the headline talking point - the somewhat underwhelming first showings of the so-called ‘favourites’.
Plenty of champion sides have built slowly into major tournaments - but is there any grounds to press the panic button for fans of Germany, or even Brazil, Argentina or Spain?
The German press were certainly less than enthused with what they saw against Mexico:
With Barney Ronay’s in-stadium assessment damning of Germany’s most un-German of characteristics, appearing disorganised.
Indeed, with three of the last four tournament champions suffering the indignity of losing their opening game it prompts the question of whether basic psychology has cracked that most resolute of barriers, die Mannschaft.
Was Thomas Müller, Mesut Őzil, Mats Hummels and friends, dare it be said overconfident or even arrogant going into this one? Joachim Löw’s fashion certainly was.
One thing’s for sure, it makes for a fascinating resolution of matches in Group F, where on too many occasions in recent years we’ve seen favourites coast through near dead rubbers in game three.
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Now much has already been discussed regarding England’s win this morning, with a bunch of solid talking points emerging from the match, as Dominic Fifield has expertly surmised:
But as Peruvian fans (or dare we also suggest Australian fans?) will attest its a game of the finest margins, football, so can you ever really put your finger on which particular “one per center” gets a side across the line?
Germany’s travelling cohort certainly had grounds to be aggrieved, with effort’s like Julian Brandt’s late rocket or Toni Kroos’ freekick so agonising close to drawing parity.
But consider the following:
and now this:
Waistcoat manager emerges happy; t-shirt manager suffers ignominy?
Tell me that’s not a crucial “one per center”.
And while Real Madrid has been busy trying to scupper its nation’s World Cup chances crosstown rivals Atlético have been going about their business with less ructions: announcing the signing and re-signing of three of France’s stars.
Star striker Antoine Griezmann and defender Lucas Hernández have signed the dotted line for extended stays, but it’s the signing of promising Monaco winger Thomas Lemar that has tongue’s wagging. €60m (£52.7m) is the mentioned price. I wonder how many cut-price Nikola Kalinić’s you can get for that.
So let’s wrap up some news; the big talking point from late yesterday was of course Croatia’s Nikola Kalinić getting sent home for apparently refusing to play in their World Cup match against Nigeria.
You wonder how that goes down with professional footballers around the world. I’m sure a plane ride shared with somebody like Ryan Giggs might remind him how special an opportunity representing your country on the biggest stage of all is.
And speaking of plane rides, a positive outcome for a team beset by a very unwelcome distraction, with Saudi Arabia’s players all safe and sound after their plane caught fire, en route to Rostov-on-Don.
And you thought their opening fixture against Russia was harrowing.
Finally, some positive news for those that recall the shocking scenes from Marseilles during Euro 2016, with English fans in Volgograd reporting “fantastic” hospitality and a trouble-free experience.
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Preamble
After years of hurt, England are back, baby - courtesy their 2-1 win over Tunisia, to start their 2018 campaign with 300% as many points as their entire Brazil 2014 campaign.
In fairness it was a deserved result for Three Lions, as Harry Kane said so himself, who have already done better than defending champions Germany, and favourites Brazil, Spain and Argentina in navigating their opening Group G encounter.
But to today’s three games! On day six we’ll see the conclusion of the first round of group stage clashes, and as always we’ll have live blogs, match reports and special features in abundance to keep you across all the action.
He was the subject of will-he, won’t-he speculation following his champions league final injury that saw him fail to appear in their opening match, but Mohammed Salah has confirmed he’s ready for Egypt’s crunch game against the host nation.
Before then though we’ll get our first look at Group H. How will Colombia’s forgotten man, Radamel Falcao, fare after the agony of missing Brazil 2014, against Japan’s Samurai Blue? Another man seeking redemption is Poland’s goalkeeper, Wojciech Szczesny, after harrowing showings at Euro 2012 and 2016; he takes on a Senegalese side whose coach Aliou Cissé hopes can recreate the memorable team of 2002, of which he was a integral part.
Three terrific features there from Stuart James, David Hytner and Ed Aarons to sink your teeth into to start the day. Meanwhile, here’s the match schedule:
Day Six:
Colombia vs Japan (Group H) - Saransk - 1pm (GMT) / 3pm (MSK)
Poland vs Senegal (Group H) - Moscow - 4pm (GMT) / 6pm (MSK)
Russia vs Egypt (Group A) - St Petersburg - 7pm (GMT) / 9pm (MSK)
I’m here for the next few hours alongside the early birds of UK and Western Europe and the night owls of North & South America to help you get up to speed. As always feel free to join the conversation via email (richard.parkin.casual@theguardian.com), twitter (@rrjparkin) or simply comment below the line.
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