World Cup 2018: England fly out to Russia as buildup continues – live!

With Russia kicking things off against Saudi Arabia on Thursday, it seems a sensible time to do a light bit of research into what to expect. Russia failed to win either of their last two friendlies, meaning that Stanislav Cherchesov’s team will go in to the tournament without a victory in any of their past seven games; that’s not exactly too promising.

Gosha Chernov has all of the lowdown on the hosts:

Gareth Southgate’s England are flying over the Baltic Sea, close to Estonia, as they near touchdown in Russia. But, it could have been Sam Allardyce’s England. And, speaking to the BBC, the 63-year-old admits he is jealous of Southgate taking the Three Lions to the World Cup. Almost two years on from his sacking, Allardyce said: “That should be me there. Unfortunately because of the circumstances that wasn’t the case. If a bit more time was taken, a bit more patience, I believe I should still be the England manager.”

From a potential hero this summer, to Ronaldo – no, not that one – a Brazil legend, and goalscorer in the 2002 World Cup final. Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima has been talking about his country’s chances of racking up a sixth title. “I think Brazil are playing very good, Spain are playing very well and Germany are always strong,” he says. “But a World Cup is such a difficult tournament; Argentina are always strong and France have a very good young team. But I hope Brazil can win, it’s a long time since 2002, I think it’s time.”

Antoine Griezmann klaxon: the France forward has been having his say on his future – sort of. “I have made my decision, but now is not the right time or place to announce it,” he says, teasing the baying press pack in Istra, on the outskirts of Moscow. “Sorry to continue the suspense.” One journalist went to extreme lengths to try and squeeze a proper answer out of Atlético’s prized asset. Griezmann, though, was having none of it.

Senegal have a chance of making a serious impact at this World Cup. Maybe not quite the levels of Papa Bouba Diop and Khalilou Fadiga in 2002 but a wide open Group H is there for the taking. Brush up on The Lions of Teranga with this piece on midfielder Badou Ndiaye. That’s all from me with Ben Fisher back ...

Plus our team guide, from Koulibaly to magical Mané:

Plenty of kit-chat. Certainly the most iconic kits *seem* to have been adidas: Netherlands 78, France throughout the 80s, West Germany 90. But, then again, Nike only really started getting interested in football in the late 1990s. Hummel probably feeling a little upset they haven’t had a mention, Mr funkapus ...

funkapuss

12 June 2018 2:06pm

Looking at the World Cup kits through the ages, it's pretty clear that Adidas piss all over Nike. France being a good example, way cooler adidas kits. Although, tbf, Nike do have the 2018 Nigerian kit, and Croatian kits are nice, so not all bad.

Just on Australia. This World Cup *could*, and that needs extra emphasis given his ‘evergreen’ status, be the last time we see a Tim Cahill header in a Socceroos shirt aka The Most Devastating Move in Sports Entertainment. Worth also noting that if Australia get through Group C, Cahill - who is three short - could break Mark Schwarzer’s all-time appearance record of 109.

Antoine Griezmann is appearing before media later today. Which means approximately 97.895 per cent of the questions he fields will be variations of, “are you signing for Barcelona?” Poor Antoine probably just wants to talk about World Cup dreams etc. With that in mind, get all nostalgic and fuzzy-feeling by watching this clip from 1998 featuring Thierry and a wide-eyed Griezmann.

Afternoon all. For all those plane-spotters, England are just off the coast of northern Denmark but before taking off for Russia, Gareth Southgate’s squad made sure to deliver a serious message. Show Racism the Red Card are distributing 100,000 copies of this poster around the UK during the World Cup.

Australia look in good spirits in Kazan. They’re among the sides going through the motions, with 48 hours to go until hosts Russia kick-off against Saudi Arabia. Other teams are yet to arrive in Russia, with Costa Rica, Germany, South Korea, Senegal and Sweden joining in England in arrivals – albeit at varying airports – throughout Tuesday. Here’s colleague James Piercy to guide you through the next half an hour or so of goings on.

Transfer nugget: the Brazil and Roma goalkeeper Alisson has batted away speculation over his future, with Liverpool and Real Madrid both keen. “I’ve been waiting for this moment since the start of the season and I don’t want anything to mess it up,” he said during interviews today.

Japan are in the final throws of their preparations for Russia. They kick-off against Paraguay in their final friendly before the World Cup at the Tivoli Stadium in Innsbruck half an hour. A bit of team news: Shinji Kagawa and Shinji Okazaki both start, while Maya Yoshida is among those on the bench.

How much is riding on VAR in Russia? Well, it depends on whether screwing up an event that absorbs the attention of the entire world and generated just under $5bn in revenue for Fifa in 2014 is a big deal or not ...

Germany’s record at World Cup finals since 1954 is pretty impeccable. They have a 75% success rate in reaching the semi-finals, 100% in getting to the last eight and 50% to the final. No pressure, Mr Löw. “To be a coach for the German national team is of course something special,” he said.

This is a nice piece, by Simon Burnton:

The way the British media reported the fact that our families were out there and enjoying themselves, the way they blew everything out of proportion, I thought was out of order. My mum was having conversations with journalists, having meals with them – they were staying at the same hotel – but then these reporters were stabbing people in the back and sneaking secret cameras around. As players we didn’t like that, and maybe it distracted us

Relaxed and en route but Andrey Arshavin has a few reservations about England’s new-found back-three. “Defensively I have concerns, I am not sure if they are strong enough in the middle of defence,” says the former Russia forward. “I don’t see good centre-backs there.” Meanwhile, England’s first opponents in Group G, Tunisia, arrived into Moscow this morning.

There are some real beauties in here:

England are on their way to St Petersburg ...

Egypt will give Mo Salah until the last minute to prove that his shoulder won’t crumble to pieces in their Group A opener against Uruguay on Friday. “Maybe he could start on the bench, but a final decision has not been made yet,” said Dr Mohamed Abouelela.

Transfer nugget: a bit tenuous but Cardiff City have signed Norwich City’s former England youth international Josh Murphy for circa £10m, joining his twin, Jacob, in the Premier League. That seems a shrewd bit of business.

Essential, and colourful, half-time lunchtime reading:

Plus a neat film on England v the media, feat. Barney Ronay:

Peter Shilton in goal and a front two of Tom Finney and Alan Shearer, in a good old-fashioned 4-4-2. Thoughts? Slightly different to Viv Anderson’s all-time XI, but you can create your own:

And cherry-pick your very own Argentina, Brazil, Japan et al here.

With England en route to Russia, a big question to ponder over lunch ... World In Motion or Three Lions? And honourable mentions to The Farm and Fat Les too of course.

Transfer nugget: Bournemouth are closing on the Colombia and Levante midfielder Jefferson Lerma. The Premier League side have bid around £16m for the versatile 23-year-old, a key part of José Pékerman’s squad in Russia this summer. Colombia are in Group H, against Senegal, Japan and Poland.

Here’s some damning chatter and a minor body blow for Mr Infantino himself: the value of World Cup sponsorship has dropped since 2014, according to global market research firm Nielsen Sports. Fifa sponsor revenue plummeted from a mere $1,629m (£1,214m) to $1,450m (£1,083m) between Brazil and Russia, with the latter said to be a “tougher sell”.

The referees are warming up in Russia too ...

As is, er, the Fifa president, Gianni Infantino. The 48-year-old Swiss-Italian is supposedly an Internazionale fan. Anyway, where’s Mr Blatter when you want him?

Here come Die Mannschaft, via Lufthansa. Joachim Löw is a cool customer, isn’t he? And presumably Manuel Neuer took the picture.

Unsure about Saudi Arabia’s Taisir Al-Jassim? Out of the loop when it comes to the Panama captain Felipe Baloy? Become a fountain of knowledge, with our comprehensive guide to every player in Russia.

Phillipe Coutinho is 26 today and, to mark the occasion in Sochi, he has been collared in training by his Brazil team-mates in the only way they know how ...

And then Marcelo rolls around with Neymar – it’s all fun and games.

A nugget of vaguely relevant news: Freddie Ljungberg, the former Sweden winger has returned to Arsenal as head coach of the club’s Under-23 team. He will work in tandem with the so-called BFG, Per Mertesacker. “It’s great to have Freddie back at the club,” the academy manager says.

What might have been, eh?

So, England have been whisked off from St George’s Park, and are now heading for Birmingham Airport before their flight to St Petersburg. The Under-21 coach Aidy Boothroyd is part of the 35-strong staff heading out alongside Gareth Southgate’s 23-man squad to Russia. Boothroyd’s young side won the Toulon Tournament for a third successive time on Saturday.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic will only have a watching brief of course this summer, but he still has big hopes for Sweden, another team who will arrive in Russia on Tuesday. They will be staying in Gelendzhik, a resort on the Black Sea. Of Sweden, Ibrahimovic says “you never know what will happen” but after years of suggesting otherwise, his biggest revelation is that it’s in fact a team sport.

Remember it’s not an individual game we are playing, but a team game. I think Neymar, after being injured and coming back, will have a lot of hunger to play and will lift his team and they will push for him. I think with Messi, the picture is normal: he is the best and the team follows him. Ronaldo, the same thing. Let’s see what happens. It’s a long season. Players have been playing for 10 or 11 months and now this is the final stage. Let’s see who is physically and mentally 100%. Those things are very decisive. It doesn’t matter how skilful you are if you are not 100% healthy.

Essential viewing, feat. Ra-Ra-Rasputin:

The excitement for Russia is in full swing but a reminder that, in around 24 hours time, the vote for the 2026 World Cup takes place. It’s Canada, United States and Mexico v Morocco in the bid to host the tournament after Qatar in 2022. The 68th Fifa congress will be held in Moscow, with kick-off around 6am BST. Until then, here’s David Conn with more:

An 11 v 11 training game at St George’s Park (Kane and Alli on the same team, of course) was Gareth Southgate’s squad last act on English grass. After getting suited and booted – they have been kitted out by M&S – and that stellar team photo, Tuesday’s schedule is expected to look a little like this:

• depart St George’s Park around 11am (BST)
• fly from private terminal at Birmingham Airport
• land in St Petersburg mid-afternoon
• 45-minute transfer to ForRestMix hotel
• arrive at Repino base circa 5pm

England’s final Group G opponents, Belgium, had a minor scare on Monday night, with Eden Hazard limping off with a dead leg – but all will be OK, according to Roberto Martínez. “He had a little trouble but it’s nothing to worry about,” he said.

Another day, another glorious team guide. Our latest dip into our experts’ network takes us to Poland, a side teeming with syllables. They play their final warm-up match this afternoon, against Lithuania in Warsaw (5pm BST):

And here’s a piece on Piotr Zielinski, the fleet-footed Napoli midfielder heralded by former manager Maurizio Sarri as “the new Kevin De Bruyne”.

As well as England, Costa Rica, Germany, South Korea, Senegal and Sweden are expected to arrive in Russia on Tuesday. The mood in a youthful England camp is all very positive, with this the latest from manager Gareth Southgate:

Southgate, whose team take on Tunisia in their first World Cup game in Volgograd on Monday, believes that has now been consigned to the past on the back of England’s encouraging recent performances, including the victories against Costa Rica and Nigeria in their past two warm-up matches.

“I’ve talked before about there being a disconnect between the supporters and the team,” Southgate said. “There are different ways to bridge that and the most important is the way you play, your performances and your results. We know everything else comes on the back of that.

When England land, they’ll be heading straight for the not so acclaimed ForRestMix resort in Repino, where Sky Sports News are already parked outside. For more on base camp, instead of delving into TripAdvisor (“dirty hammam with disgusting steam quality”), read Amie Ferris-Rotman’s verdict, including a line on Zaliv, the village’s sole nightclub: