World Cup 2018: England kick off campaign, Swedish spies and more – live!

Not really football related, but so ridiculous I’m bringing it to you anyway. This press release has just landed in my inbox:

On the eve of Royal Ascot, [betting company name] has opened betting on the colour of the Queen’s hat and bets have already started to flood in. Blue has been installed as the early favourite at 2/1, while it’s 3/1 that Her Majesty opts for a pink ensemble instead.

It’s 4/1 that a more neutral shade of white or cream is worn, while a vibrant yellow is next best at 5/1.

[Spokesperson name] of [betting company name] said: “All week we will be taking bets on the colour of the Queen’s hat, and judging by the money so far, Her Majesty will be starting the proceedings in blue,”

Queen’s hat on Tuesday of Royal Ascot odds: 2 Blue, 3 Pink, 4 White/Cream, 5 Yellow, 5 Purple, 6 Green, 6 Red, 10 Orange. Others on request.

Today Sweden play South Korea for the second time in tournament football. Their first such meeting, at the 1948 Olympics, ended with Sweden winning 12-0. The Swedes have not won any of their last seven World Cup opening games (five draws and two defeats); Korea haven’t won any of their last six World Cup games (two draws and four defeats).

Sean Ingle says that VAR has been a success in the World Cup so far, and all the fuss about it is typical of how English football reacts to rule-changing innovation:

Of course there have been mistakes. The decision not to award Argentina’s Christian Pavon a penalty against Iceland was particularly baffling. But VAR is getting it right more often than not. And for all the wailing on social media, the penalty awarded to Antoine Griezmann was a textbook example of how it should work – a clear error spotted, the referee alerted and the decision reversed after it became clear Griezmann was spiked.

Our gallery of the best images of the World Cup so far has some absolute crackers, but this is my absolute favourite. It’s just a stunning photograph, cheapened only by the fact that Neymar was wildly overacting in a successful bid to win his opponent a booking.

Some of these alternative Panini stickers are absolutely great:

The Colombian Wilmar Roldan will meanwhile take charge of England’s game. He is best known for his performance in officiating River Plate’s Copa Libertadores game against Lanus late last year, which was described in commentary as “scandalous and painful”.

Refwatch: Zambia’s Janny Sikazwe will be the man in the middle when Belgium play Panama today. A couple of years ago he took charge of the Cosafa Cup final between South Africa and Botswana, at the end of which the Botswana coach, Peter Butler, had this to say about him:

I’d just like too say that this tournament will never ever gain any leverage or credibility when we have atrocious and disgusting and shameful refereeing decisions – not just tonight but throughout that tournament.

This is the same guy that sent me off, the same guy that gave a penalty against us the last time and he’s given two penalties tonight. We were the better team for the majority of the game.

Good luck to South Africa, I wish them well, but I think it’s disgusting and it’s shameful.

But hey, we all have our off days.

Barney Ronay’s piece on Russia’s role in his family history is excellently readable:

There is a time and place for first-person stories, which is usually no time and no place. But this is the only time I’ll get to tell this one. It’s quite good. And it relates to Russia, Volgograd, and preconceptions.

On this day in World Cup history: Diego Maradona scores his first World Cup goal. And his second.

Hello world!

And so another day of World Cup-based excitement begins (if you share my time zone). I’m expecting another cracker. Today features press conferences from Australia, Mexico, Portugal, Iceland, France, Uruguay, Russia, Poland, Switzerland and Argentina, plus three actual matches and a whole world of fun. I’ll be here for the next eight hours or so. Strap yourself in and enjoy the ride!

And with that, I’ll leave you with my esteemed colleague, Simon Burnton, who’ll occupy the hot seat until Sweden and South Korea kick off in Novogorod. From me though, until next time.

Some glorious snaps have been taken so far in Russia, although it’s going to be hard to beat this one even though we might have been duped into liking it:

Some great lines from Robert Lewandowski in this exclusive interview with Tomasz Wlodarczyk, including these:

“There have been many attempts of dishonesty. Even fake charity proposals. The number of strange offers is absolutely astonishing and, because of that, I have become distrusting of people. No one becomes my friend in one day. I have many doubts and my first thought these days, sadly, is: ‘This person wants something from me.’ But even if I weren’t famous, it wouldn’t be that easy to get close to me. I have my old friends and I keep them very close to myself. I know who I can trust. I don’t change my friends like socks. When there is someone I think I may like, I can open the door, but I do it very slowly. Trust has to be there before I open my heart.”

The Socceroos’ World Cup hopes hang in the balance after their controversial defeat to France, and captain Mile Jedinak, who scored Australia’s penalty in the 2-1 defeat in Kazan, knows there’s a touch of the last-chance saloon about the game against Denmark – lose and they’re out. “We can’t lose again,” Jedinak said. “Everyone knows what is at stake, no one is kidding themselves ... we have got to get a result. And you have got to control all that emotion and try and stick to what is being asked of you and not stray away too much.”

More from Diego Maradona, speaking on Venezuelan television channel Telesur:

“I don’t blame the players. I could blame the lack of work rate. But I can’t blame the players, much less [Lionel] Messi, who gave it all he had. I missed five penalties on the spin and I was still Diego Armando Maradona. I don’t think that they dropped two points because Messi missed a penalty.”

Four days in, and we’ve had the first instance of World Cup espionage, and surprisingly it didn’t involved a drone – or indeed anything more ingenious than a Swedish coach walking into a training session which he claims he thought was open. (It wasn’t.) It prompted an apology from Sweden manager Janne Andersson, but he stopped short of responding to allegations the coach in question, Lars Jacobsson, had rented a house across the road from South Korea’s training ground. The Koreans, meanwhile, attempted to confuse the alleged spy by swapping their players’ numbers around.

Oof, Daryl John Boyce writes in to point out an earlier clanger. “Didn’t Southgate miss at Euro 96?” Consider him stricken from the list of (World Cup) shame, and feel free to add in Pearce, Waddle, Ince, Batty, Lampard, Gerrard or Carragher instead, if we still need an England presence.

With the weight of a nation of World Cup players’ shoulders, you’d hardly think they’d need any more pressure. But for South Korean players, including Son Heung-min, a good showing on the pitch could get them out of doing military service – and cutting their hair, living on a pittance and learning to eat instant noodles at a speed that would win gold if such a thing were an Olympic event.

Speaking of El Diego, whether he’s missing in penalty shootouts or staring wide-eyed down television cameras, lifting World Cup trophies or scoring some of the greatest goals ever scored, Maradona has never been far away from making headlines at World Cups. And even years after his playing retirement, he’s still at it. Having already caused some ire/mirth with smoking a huge cigar inside a smoke-free stadium in Russia, he’s now had to explain himself after making a gesture that witnesses perceived as racist.

Baresi, Baggio, Socrates, Platini, Zico, Southgate (see correction note above)... Diana Ross. Even Diego Maradona has missed a penalty at the World Cup finals. We can now add Peru’s Christian Cueva to the hall of shame after his botched effort proved the turning point in the South Americans’ opener against Denmark. It’s almost impossible to imagine how he must feel. Still, at least another big name has already added himself to this list this tournament...

What of Panama’s opponents in Sochi? Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku, Thibaut Courtois, Dries Mertens, er, Marouanne Fellaini – this is a squad of the highest individual quality. But it is Eden Hazard who will be striking fear into Panamanian hearts right now (and Phil Jones). The Chelsea forward is bang in form. But we didn’t need Courtois to tell us that.

Office sweepstakes. For one lucky person, the source of great riches. For 31 other employees, a complete waste of a fiver. I got Panama, so I fit very comfortably into the latter category. Even so, it would be churlish not to follow the progress of Hernán Darío “Bolillo” Gómez’s side. They’re a “great story” and this, by Sid Lowe, helps explain their journey to Russia.

I suppose now would be a pretty good time to plug this, a review of the documentary Managing England: The Impossible Job, which looks at the history of the one of the toughest jobs in sport. Over to the inimitable Sam Wollaston:

God, can it really be 22 years ago, Euro 96? That was the last game for the then England manager Terry Venables, although he was always going to go after the competition (time-consuming legal battles, you may remember). The player who missed his spot kick? The current England manager, who has his first game in charge at a major tournament tomorrow. “Those experiences helped me in this role,” he – Gareth Southgate, one of five England bosses to take part in this timely, thorough and thoroughly enjoyable doc – says. Hope so, Gareth.

Barnsy writes in below the line. “I read the ‘Who’s going to win the WC’ article in The Guardian about a week ago which highlighted 6 teams. Of the 6 mentioned: Germany have lost their opener, Spain, Argentina, Brazil drew theirs, France won and Belgium still to play. Interesting start.” Experts know nothing.

Max Rushden is joined by Jacob Steinberg and Paolo Bandini in the studio to review day four’s action, as two of the tournament’s favourites faltered at the first hurdle in the latest World Cup Football Daily. I haven’t had time to listen yet, I dearly hope the pod get around to discussing Neymar and Pot Noodles.

Still in any doubt over how much that win means to Mexican people? This is a great bit of audio of a commentator losing it.

At least those Mexican fans could watch some action on the telly. That hasn’t been the case so far in Australia, where co-rights holder Optus Sport have come under a barrage of fire from disgruntled fans who haven’t been able watch complete games due to technical problems that have seen the live streaming service regularly interrupted. Amid the national outcry, PM Malcolm Turnbull has got involved. “I have spoken with the Optus CEO, Allen Lew,” Turnbull tweeted. “He assures me he is giving the World Cup streaming problems his personal attention and he believes it will be fixed this evening.” Huzzah! There was a similar statement from Optus on Saturday, a few hours before the problem reared is head again.

One of the undoubted highlights from day four was the reaction of the Mexican fans to their goal. There was something about the way Hirving Lozano’s cut back inside before pulling the trigger that, by momentarily delaying the action, intensified the expectation and made the release of emotion when the ball hit the back of the net even more intense. From footage on social media, it was as though the stadium was rocking.

There were similar scenes back home too, by all accounts.