Colombia's Carlos Sanchez gets World Cup's first red card as Japan cause Group H upset

May I suggest that you 

It's absolutely tipping it down in Russia outside the BBC studio, so much so that you cannot hear Dan Walker and Phil Neville speak!

And on that happy note, I bid you good afternoon! 

at the end, some of them in tears. Not just an excellent win but, perhaps, thoughts of folks back home after the recent earthquake?

Well done Japan! A famous victory from the underdogs.

Oooh but here is a chance for Colombia as the break, with some numbers... but that's a rotten effort at a cross from Bacca. Disgraceful rubbish.

Japan are holding on here, and are doing so in general comfort. Inui, who has been a threat throughout, draws a foul.

Here's a late hope for Colombia though. They have a chance to swing the ball into the box, good header on... but Falcao is offside. Rats.

We are going to have five minutes added.

Osako, who has been excellent, is replaced by Okazaki. The Leicester chap.

This has been a masterclass in game management by the Japanese team since they went 2-1 up. Colombians cannot get near the ball.

Game has become bitty. Rodriguez is booked for chopping down Haraguchi.

Japan have done well here, they have taken the sting out of this in the last few minutes.

Bit of a delay because D Sanchez has clattered Osako.

Yamaguchi comes on for Shibasaki.

really nearly won that first race, was right up there until the last few yards, but chinned on the line by several. Finishes fifth I think.

Oh, James! That was the chance, maybe. Barrios sets him up with a backheel, James shoots, but cannot hit paydirt because the hero Osako has thrown himself in the way of the shot.

The other Yoshida is in the stalls at Royal Ascot....

Quality corner from Honda, a great leap from Osako, and a really well directed header into the far corner.

How's that not gone in?! There is a scramble in the box, Osako holds it up with his back to goal and does well to lay it off, the shot comes in from Sakai and is deflected behind for a corner.

Honda with a good run, cuts inside, fires but straight at Ospina.

Shinji Kagawa is coming off and Honda is coming on.

Bacca on for the Colombians, that's quite a positive move. Izquierdo I think it is coming off.

Feels like Colombia have weathered the storm...

Japan have another corner, their fifth. Colombians clinging on by their fingertips.

Barrios gets a yeller for stamping on the foot of Shinji Kagawa.

Inui has gone close again.

Japan surely due here. They've been all over Colombia since the restart. H Sakai is the latest to have a go, firing across the goal. It'll be interesting to see how fit, or not, James is.

Yoshida gets up superbly from a freekick and meets the ball with a header. Wide.

Quintero the goalscorer is coming off and James Rodriguez is coming on. The Colombian crowd rise to acclaim their hero.

Colombia need to come up a gear, and there are signs that they are doing so, Falcao is putting it about.

But, not for the first time, Davinson Sanchez is a little bit out of position and, not for the first time,  Inui is free and clear down that left flank. He gathers, checks inside and tries to bend it into the corner. Ospina palms it away.

Excellent from Japan. They look an outfit at the moment. Kagawa with a gorgeous little through ball, Osako is onto it and strikes it hard from a narrow angle. Good save Ospina.

The Japanese players are bang up for this. Nagatomo particularly is in the 110% club.

The Japan side are very much on top so far. They have a corner. Yoshida controls it brilliantly but has the turning circle of an aircraft carrier so he cannot get a shot in before the swarming Colombians engulf him.

Japan with a nice start to the half, pinging the ball around and looking to stretch their ten-man opponents.

Good Lord!

What a bizarre half-time interlude. Let's get back to the football.

seems to be doing some sort of blind taste test.

It's Borscht! And he's voted for Matthew Upson's.

Well done Colombia, what an effort. Anybody's game. Awful start for the South Americans, Carlos Sanchez having a complete shocker and sticking his hand out. Also to blame: Davinson Sanchez, who let himself be bamboozled by a simple long ball, and then bullied by the Japanese runner, leading to the shot from which Carlos stuck his mitt out.

But Colombia did not let their heads drop. Cuadrado led  several attacks but was, curiously, subbed off. Falcao has produced a captain's innings up front, wonderful movement and classy presence. Falcao eventually won a free in a handy position, and Qunitero cheekily slotted it under the wall.

The Japanese are clinging on here, Colombia have shown great cojones to fight their way back into this.

That's a cheeky bit of genius! Love it, well done Quintero. He waited for the wall to jump and threaded it into the corner of the goal. The Japan keeper desperately tried to claw it out.

Some players are protesting, not sure why, not only is it a) obviously in b) they have goalline tech so no point in grousing to the human ref anyway. 

Falcao goes down. And now Falcao goes down again. Mahoto Hasebe was his assailant both times.

He's doing everything he can to win a penalty, is Falcao. No foul for the first one. Second one, he gets instead a freekick on the edge of the box.

Colombia have a freekick on the edge of the box... it's Quintero...

Yoshida has had a nibble at Falcao, who makes the most of it. The freekick is cleared, also by Yoshida (I think - it was a bit of a crowd scene)

Falcao close again, and it is the same move as before: a little chipped ball straight down the centre, Falcao springs the trap and leaps, athletically. Cannot quite get the direction with his toe-ender.

Oooh, shocking play from Colombia. They try to play it back to Davinson Sanchez, hospital pass... the Japanese left-sided forward  Yuya Osako steals in and slashes a shot across goal. Should have done better.

Cuadrado has been subbed. Remarkable. Wilmar Barrios, a defensive midfielder, comes on. Tactical move.

Here come the Colombians again but, I have to say, for their attacking verve and spirit they are not really creating as many chances as they would like. This one peters out.

Izquierdo is having a good game in the centre of the park, lots of N-R-G.

Excellent defence from Nagatomo to pinch it away from Cuadrado at a vital time. Japan clear the corner with some authority.

Colombia committing loads forward, they've got five or six in a line here, but the problem is the obvious one: when they lose it, they are looking very short staffed. Hasebe and Inui have both attempted to lead breaks. Davinson Sanchez is doing some good robust spoiling work.

Colombia, despite having a man off, are causing a load of problems. Cuadrado, looking like the player he is at Juventus rather than the waste of space that he was at Chelsea, is roasting them.

It has all opened up for Japan, Kagawa runs at the defence, who back off. He has got options... slides it out to the left, where unmarked, overlapping Inui has time to pick his spot, but he shoots wide.

Pathetic play acting from Mojica as he rolls around after being vaguely brushed by Haraguchi.

Colombia are at the ref 24/7, and they will be hoping that he looks to even things up.  They win a freekick, excellent movement from Falcao as he gets across the defence and gets a toe on it... hard lines for him that it's straight at the keeper.

Well, what a start that was! The Colombian midfielder Carlos Sanchez can have zero complaints. Well, in fact, he had loads of complaints as he pleaded his case, but it was a pretty clear handball.

Cuadrado looks to pick his team up, good progress down the right from the Juventus man. Falcao will play on his own as the sole striker in a 4-4-1 by the looks.

Straight down the middle, waiting for Ospina to dive. Cool penalty.

Surely the slowest walk-off the World Cup has ever seen? Carlos Sanchez is still trudging off. He used to play for Aston Villa, so he knows about misery.

Kagawa steps up... Ospina in goals....

Japan break away, just a simple long punt down the middle but Davison Sanchez has made a meal of clearing it. Yuya Osaka races on to the ball and shoots, David Ospina does well but Shinji Kagawa pounces on the rebound. He shoots from the edge of the box, Carlos Sanchez sticks his arm out.

Colombia are all over the shop here. A shot... Carlos Sanchez sticks his arm out and gets in the way. Red card! Penalty!

Colombia it is who are stroking the ball around at the back, sensibly favouring the bit of the pitch that is sunny.

Colombia: Ospina, Arias, Murillo, Davinson Sanchez, Mojica,  Lerma, Carlos Sanchez, Cuadrado, Quintero, Izquierdo, Falcao.  Subs: Vargas, Cuadrado, Zapata, Barrios, Bacca, Aguilar,  Rodriguez, Mina, Muriel, Uribe, Diaz, Borja. 

Japan: Kawashima, Hiroki Sakai, Yoshida, Shoji, Nagatomo,  Hasebe, Shibasaki, Haraguchi, Kagawa, Inui, Osako. Subs:  Higashiguchi, Nakamura, Ueda, Honda, Endo, Okazaki, Usami, Muto,  Yamaguchi, Oshima, Makino, Gotoku Sakai. 

Referee: Damir Skomina (Slovenia) 

Let's kick off. Half the pitch is in sunshine.

Colombia's is a smasher! Plenty of Colombians in the crowd and they are giving it everything. It sounds like someone throwing a dinner service down a metal fire escape. Falcao has a T in the E, bless him. Emotional scenes.

The Japanese one could hardly be more different: stately, lilting, dignified.

But where do they each come in our rankings?

Kick off coming up

Like a Renaissance masterpiece or something.

is that JAMES HAS BEEN SAT DOWN. That's a shame, many were hoping that James Rodriguez would be fit enough for this match but he will have to make do with a place on the bench. A calf injury has got the better of him.

Colombia: Ospina, Arias, Murillo, Davinson Sanchez, Mojica,  Lerma, Carlos Sanchez, Cuadrado, Quintero, Izquierdo, Falcao.  Subs: Vargas, Cuadrado, Zapata, Barrios, Bacca, Aguilar,  Rodriguez, Mina, Muriel, Uribe, Diaz, Borja. 

Japan: Kawashima, Hiroki Sakai, Yoshida, Shoji, Nagatomo,  Hasebe, Shibasaki, Haraguchi, Kagawa, Inui, Osako. Subs:  Higashiguchi, Nakamura, Ueda, Honda, Endo, Okazaki, Usami, Muto,  Yamaguchi, Oshima, Makino, Gotoku Sakai. 

Referee: Damir Skomina (Slovenia) 

Tyers here. Excited to bring you this first live blog of the day.

Onto Group H today, then, and the final four teams that have not yet featured in this year's World Cup.

First up, Colombia vs Japan. Here's where the game is being played:

 

Word of a deadly earthquake in Japan and an early-morning false alarm at a team hotel have given the country's World Cup squad some unsettling moments.

Japan coach Akira Nishino, who built his professional reputation coaching Gamba Osaka, said he and a number of his players have acquaintances or loved ones affected by Monday's quake, making for an unwelcome distraction on the eve of the team's Group H opener against Colombia in Saransk.

"The psychological impact is something I'm slightly worried about at this point," Nishino said before Monday afternoon's training session. "As staff members, we are consulting with them and I'd like them to be settled down as soon as possible."

Osaka is Japan's second-largest city. The 6.1 magnitude earthquake killed at least three people - including a 9-year-old girl - and injured hundreds.

Midfielder and captain Hasebe Makoto said that on behalf of the team, he "would like to extend heartfelt condolences to those who've been affected and I hope damage can be limited as much as possible and recovery is as fast as possible."

Makoto agreed that players with loved ones in the Osaka area "might have been negatively impacted" emotionally.

"The team as a whole would like to extend support, and I, as captain, would like to do that," he said.

Japan players with Osaka ties include goalkeeper Masaaki Higashigushi and midfielder Hotaru Yamaguchi, who play professionally in Osaka, while attacking midfielder Keisuke Honda was born in the area.

Nishino said he and players found out about the earthquake shortly after it happened because an alarm went off at the team hotel in Saransk and blared for about 15 minutes around the same time as the earthquake struck.

"The alarm continued for a while and there are some delicate, nervous players, and some of them looked a bit tired in the morning," Nishino said. "So I assume there was some negative impact."

Team officials said that none of the players have reported earthquake-related injuries among family or close friends, and players haven't reported any difficulty contacting loved ones.

AP