Argentina fallout and latest news on day nine: World Cup 2018 – as it happened

Before running off for Brazil v Costa Rica updates, look here:

As for Croatia, Dejan Lovren believes they can go one better, confident they’re capable of eclipsing the achievements of the vintage 1998 team that reached the last four:

And when you look on the team-sheet, we have better players than the previous [team] of 20 years ago. But it doesn’t mean anything if we don’t perform well. But if we are like against Argentina, through all the tournament, I believe we can go far.

There are couple of reports flying around suggesting that the Argentina FA (AFA) have no plans of sacking Mr Sampaoli any time soon, certainly not before the Nigeria game on Tuesday. After a 3-0 defeat to Croatia, they’re staring down the barrel of an early exit:

Essential half-time lunchtime viewing:

Raheem Sterling has had his say: he’s baffled by the constant criticism of his lifestyle by a portion of the media which convinces the 23-year-old England and Manchester City forward that “they hate what they don’t even know.”

More from the Argentina camp, with Jorge Sampaoli accepting full responsibility for his side’s humiliating defeat against Croatia, which leaves them on the brink of elimination from the World Cup. He said he “begs for forgiveness” from the supporters that turned on him. The Argentina coach described his players as “emotionally broken” after they conceded a farcical opening goal following a dreadful blunder from Willy Caballero, but he refused to blame the Chelsea goalkeeper for the 3-0 defeat. What now?

Join Jacob Steinberg for all of the team news and buildup:

Manager transfer news: Dutch side PSV Eindhoven have appointed Mark van Bommel as their new head coach on a three-year deal, replacing new Fenerbahce boss Phillip Cocu. Van Bommel is currently in Russia at the World Cup with the Australian national team as part of Bert van Marwijk’s coaching staff. He will start in his new role once he returns from the tournament.

A reminder that Brazil midfielder Fred formally joined Manchester United on Thursday on a five-year deal, for a fee of £52m:

Keep up-to-date with all the movers and shakers here:

Phillipe Coutinho helped Brazil to that draw against Switzerland in their Group E opener, but the Barcelona midfielder is acutely aware the seleção will need to up their game to ensure victory against Costa Rica in St Petersburg. “We said after the last game we need to improve,” he said. “All games are like a final, even more so in the World Cup. We need to take responsibility and our heads have to be in the right place. This game is important and we’re looking for three points. We spoke about the possibilities and the ways to qualify and points, we had a meeting about that but we take to the field aiming to win.” Sounds promising ...

Meanwhile in North America, despite beating the reigning champs in their opener, El Tri have work to do to reach the knockout stages:

With Brazil in action shortly, it seems the perfect excuse to delve into the legends of yesteryear. From Zico to Lucio and Ronaldo:

Peruse Cafu’s all-time XI, and create your own here:

It’s that time again ... when was Diego Maradona celebrating? When was Ruud van Nistelrooy posing? And when was Asamoah Gyan dancing?

Bit of team news before Brazil’s date with Costa Rica, via Reuters:

The Brazil defender Danilo has been ruled out of Friday’s Group E game with a thigh problem and will be replaced by Corinthians right-back Fagner, the Brazilian Football Confederation said on Thursday.

Danilo, who was promoted to a starting role after Dani Alves pulled out of the squad with an injury in May, tweaked his right thigh during training, team doctor Rodrigo Lasmar said.

Brazil face Costa Rica in St Petersburg needing a win after a disappointing 1-1 draw with Switzerland in their opening game. The Costa Ricans lost their first group match 1-0 to Serbia.

Brazil named Paris Saint-Germain defender Thiago Silva as captain for the match in a continuation of their long-standing policy of rotating the team leadership.

He last wore the armband during a 1-0 defeat by Argentina in June, that friendly loss in Australia being the only defeat suffered by coach Tite’s Brazil in the last 22 games.

Icelandic-telly update: “TVs not tuned in to the football weren’t tuned into another channel,” says Richard Morris. “They were turned off. Their owners were in France, playing in some sort of football tournament.” But, “according to local media, the remaining 0.4% was watching reruns of the Great British Bake Off and Biggest Loser, being shown on other local channels,” emails Elísabet Anna, while Conor Clarke also weighed in with the same nugget.

A dose of context, courtesy of our chief football writer, Daniel Taylor: “day nine of the World Cup. At this stage of the tournament four years ago, England had already flown home.”

A very chirpy-looking José Fonte has been waxing lyrical about Portugal’s go-to man. “Cristiano is the best player in the world and it is not surprising he is doing what he is doing,” Fonte, the former Southampton defender, said. “He prepares for that and being Portuguese and having him in the team is just incredible. We know that we have him in the team and he is the major asset for us. We have to do our job at the back and he will do his up front.”

On this day in 1986 ...

Egypt ain’t happy; they want answers over the Paraguayan referee Enrique Caceres’s performance in their 3-1 defeat to hosts Russia. “We want an investigation into the performance of the whole refereeing team,” huffed the president of the Egyptian Football Association, Hany Abo Rida.

Egypt suffered a second defeat at the tournament and an early elimination in their first World Cup appearance since 1990. They play their final Group A game against Saudi Arabia in a contest between two eliminated teams in Volgograd on Monday. Abo Rida added: “I know people in Egypt are not happy with our results but it is our first tournament in 28 years. We lacked experience.”

“The 99.6% of Icelandic tellies tuned to their opening game is of course a great stat, but also annoyingly incomplete,” fumes David Hopkins, via email. “Is it possible to find out what the other 0.4% were tuned to?” What do we reckon? Masterchef, Midsomer Murders, Ice Road Truckers, or something else?

A nice nugget on South Korea’s Son Heung-min, courtesy of AFP.

He still lives in Barnet with his parents. His father, Son Woong-jung, is a former striker himself, whose professional career was cut short by injury.

Tottenham’s training ground, based nearby in Enfield, has housed Korean chefs, invited in by Son in the hope of ingratiating his team-mates to bulgogi (barbecued beef), japchae (stir-fried noodles) and Samgyetang (a type of chicken soup).

Are VARs diluting our love of the game? The Denmark manager, Age Hareide, is unconvinced, and has argued as much, accusing the technology of taking away the “charm” of the World Cup. Australia scored a penalty – the fifth via VAR this tournament – to keep their last-16 hopes in check. “Is it the referee on the pitch or someone watching in a dark room somewhere else?” he said. “To me, it was probably correct but it does remove a bit of the charm of football to have such a precise system. I don’t know how it will work out for football in the long run.”

“Is Neymar starting today?” asks Ravi Raman. Tite confirmed in his pre-match press conference that Neymar would play against Costa Rica in an unchanged side. The Paris Saint-Germain forward, who broke a bone in his right foot in February, felt pain in his right ankle but took part in another session on Wednesday. “We want to win, it’s a World Cup, but the coach is not going to risk a player’s health by being dishonest to him,” Tite said. “No way, there’s no compromise.”

With the ongoing debrief of Argentina’s defeat in danger of dominating the agenda, let’s not forget what’s on the menu today:

• Brazil v Costa Rica, 1pm (BST)
• Nigeria v Iceland, 4pm
• Serbia v Switzerland, 7pm

Stating the obvious, Ivan Rakitic was brilliant last night:

Two years ago it was Iceland fans, with 12% of the country’s population thought to have travelled to France, but Peru have been the breakout act this time, winning the hearts of the neutral:

Food for thought: “A little perspective?” pleads Geoff Saunders. “The big team beat the underdog last night. Look at the starting teams, nine of the Croatia 11 play in what we could all agree are the top four leagues in Europe (England, Italy, Spain, and Germany). Their goalkeeper plays for Monaco, so not the top league but OK, and Vida plays for Besiktas. Argentina had a keeper who is a benchwarmer at Chelsea and six other players playing outside the top four leagues. Why are we surprised by the result? Why leave, Di María, Banega, Pavón, Higuaín and Dybala on the bench? Now the performance? That was the worst performance I have ever seen by an international side and I have been watching football since 1966.”

Plus, this email from Martin Gamage: “How the referee managed to keep 22 players on the pitch last night I have no idea ... Rebic’s challenge in the first half was as clear a red card as one is likely to see and there were probably three more reds that could have taken it to nine-a-side. I’m not sure whether there is some resistance to using VAR to overrule the referee on reds, or whether the game just moves on too quickly. But I felt last night the officials needed some help.”

Fresh from sticking the boot into Argentina, will Ante Rebic saunter off to Spurs for £26m? And will the circus around an Old Trafford return for Cristiano Ronaldo end this summer?

Fernandinho has put two fingers up to the tabloid press, standing up for his Manchester City team-mate Raheem Sterling, with the Brazil midfielder insistent that there is a “pursuit” against him by the papers. “He’s a lovely guy, a nice guy and every day he’s up, happy and I’m so glad to share the dressing room with him,” he said of the England forward. “I know why people treat him like that, but I’m glad because we have him, he’s a lovely guy and he never gives up, even though he takes a lot of criticism.”

Despite Argentina’s best efforts, we’re still talking about VAR:

This is a great insight into Raheem Sterling, by the man himself:

When I was two years old, my father was murdered. That shaped my entire life. Not long after that, my mum made the decision to leave me and my sister in Jamaica and go to England so she could get her degree and give us a better life. For a few years, we lived with our grandmother in Kingston, and I remember watching the other kids with their mums and just feeling really jealous. I didn’t fully understand what my mum was doing for us. I just knew that she was gone. My grandma was amazing, but everybody wants their mum at that age.

Thank God I had football. I remember when it used to rain, all the kids would run outside and play football in the puddles, just splashing around, having the best time. That’s the image that flashes in my mind when I think about the atmosphere of Jamaica. When it rains, nobody hides inside. You just go out and enjoy it. The other thing I remember is begging my grandmother for money to go and get a grapenut ice cream.

Reports in Argentina in the wake of that humbling have shades of France 2010, that mutiny between Raymond Domenech and his players. Meltdown springs to mind, with talk that Lionel Messi and co want Jorge Sampaoli to step aside and Jorge Burruchaga, the former Argentina forward, to manage their final game against Nigeria. Disaster for Sampaoli if that’s the case, and we will surely find out soon enough. Other reports suggest Sampaoli could stick around, in what could prove to be the final bow for the likes of Rojo, Banega, Agüero, Di Maria, Mascherano and possibly Higuaín and Messi, as they intend to retire. Nothing confirmed at this stage, but the next few hours are not going to be dull.

With the Argentina post-mortem under way, some lighter viewing:

A bad tournament all round: my colleague, Stuart James, points out that it has been a miserable tournament for all Argentinian coaches, and not just Jorge Sampaoli, the butt of Brazilian jokes this morning. Between Sampaoli (Argentina), José Pékerman (Colombia), Ricardo Gareca (Peru), Héctor Cúper (Egypt) and Juan Antonio Pizzi (Saudi Arabia), their miserly record reads: P9 W0 D1 L8 F3 A18.

Meanwhile, the Croatian media is also going nuts, if for entirely different reasons. “A magnificent victory to be told by generations to come” is how Sportske Novosti described the win. Here’s more reaction, courtesy of Reuters:

Sporstke Novosti said coach Zlatko Dalic’s tactical “masterclass” stifled out Argentina’s talismanic forward Lionel Messi and helped Croatia sink Argentina with “brilliant” second-half goals from Ante Rebic, Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic.

Split daily Slobodna Dalmacija said Croatia “shocked Messi, Diego Maradona and the rest of the world,” adding that Argentina’s 1986 World Cup winner Maradona could not hold back the tears after the game. “Croatian fans in Nizhny Novgorod were in full swing, although outnumbered three to one by the Argentinian contingent sporting drums,” it added.

Vecernji List carried a photo of thousands of fans cramming the city’s central Ban Jelacic square to watch the game on a giant screen and lighting several flares after the final whistle. “The win was celebrated throughout Croatia after a fairytale performance which shattered Messi’s Argentina to pieces,” it said. “While Messi was totally subdued, Modric played like a wizard and deserved all the plaudits.

EriuAndTheGaels writes below the line: “Let’s be honest – Messi was completely ineffective as a leader and should not have been captain. The fact that he stormed off at the end also betrays a lack of leadership – he was basically in a tantrum. Yes Argentina were very poor, and the hero worship that makes Messi captain is part of the problem. The shadow of Maradona is very long it seems.”

This brings to mind the time Messi “retired” from international football after he missed a penalty and Argentina lost the 2016 Copa América final to Chile. Of course emotions were running high at the end of the game etc, and he went back on what he said, but still...

The Argentine press are, understandably, going hard on their team today. The Clarin newspaper said Messi was “a shadow” during the defeat to Croatia while La Nacion claimed the team was without “spirit and guidance” and ran an analysis of what it termed “a deep disease”. The Spanish press was no less forgiving. The headine in Sport reads “Messi does not deserve this Argentina”. Mundo Deportivo has “In the abyss” alongside a picture of Sampaio with his head in his hands while Marca simply has “Fiasco Mundial”.

The World Cup: the tournament that can bring entire nations to a halt. And delay the start of a Grand Prix.

Because who doesn’t love donning fancy dress to go to a football match?

My goodness, Rob Smyth knows his football history. This, on the long-forgotten Panamerican Championship and Costa Rica’s only win over today’s opponents Brazil, is eye-opening.

Speaking of Iceland, they’re having to get used to no longer being plucky underdogs as they prepare to meet Nigeria in Volgograd later. As Nick Ames reports:

“Iceland will now go into a major tournament fixture as favourites and, lovable as they remain, the image of knockabout underdogs bears no resemblance to their attitude on the pitch. It brings a new set of pressures, though, and if those needed relieving then one of the questions that arose from the Icelandic press corps almost seemed purpose-built for the job.”

Amid Australia’s Optus debacle, SBS are emerging as the shining knights of World Cup coverage with 3.2 million people tuning in to watch the Denmark game live, free and without a spinning wheel of doom to contend with. That is by my calculations just over 13% of the population, an impressive figure, but not quite as impressive as the reported 99.6% of Icelandic TVs that were tuned into their team’s opening game against Argentina.

Denis Cheryshev and Diego Costa are also in the hunt, with three each so far, while there are some other familiar faces on two, including Kane, Lukaku and Modric, but the entry with the Australian flag next to his name was perhaps not the most expected.

Neymar makes it into the Guardian’s list of week one losers, while Cristiano Ronaldo headlines the other column after his four goals set him on course to slip his foot into the Golden Boot by the end of the tournament.

Are Brazil heading the same way as Argentina? They play Costa Rica today having, like their fellow South Americans, dropped points in their opener. And if Messi is becoming a scapegoat for Argentina’s travails, look no further than Neymar for a Brazilian equivalent. PSG’s Pot Noodle-haired maestro has come under fire for his performance in the draw with Switzerland and with the weight of a nation on his shoulders, the pressure to deliver is building.

In case there was any doubt how much this World Cup mean to the people of Peru, Andrew Roth’s report from the Ekaterinburg Arena should clear things up:

“When the final whistle blew, six men in matching Peru zip-ups and Adidas track pants began sobbing in the stairwell, slumping on each other in sloppy hugs of consolation. One man threw his beer from four storeys up and belted out obscenities as he descended from the seats. A father wiped tears from his daughter’s cheeks, smearing the white-and-red facepaint she had applied before the game.”

Here’s John Davidson on Tom Rogic, whose performance in Samara did something to answer his critics.

Meanwhile, Kieran Pender was also at the Samara Arena, and wrote this, on the challenge now facing the Socceroos when they meet Peru in Sochi next week.

Amid all the pre-tournament talk of where Australia’s goals would come from with Cahill on his way out, an unlikely saviour has emerged:

Although, clearly goals from open play are still a huge problem.

The architects of Argentina’s defeat, Croatia, appear pretty confident of their chances now. Warning: includes the line “Don’t cry for me Argentina”.

Will Argentina manager Jorge Sampaoli even last the remainder of the tournament? This man, whose blue tick and a microphone suggest he can be trusted, is suggesting Argentina players met after the defeat to Croatia and want him out of the door before they take on Nigeria in their final group game.

This is excellent from Jonathan Wilson, on Argentina’s implosion:

“Too many players tried to do too much themselves. There was altogether too much running, too much frenzy, too many fouls conceded as they desperately tried to regain possession, too little thought. By the end, as Ivan Rakitic casually rolled in a sarcastic third for Croatia, Argentina were gone, any semblance of defensive structure blown to the winds.”

Despite the Socceroos’ point against Denmark, it was not all sweetness and light this morning. The papers were largely positive (“Going the extra Mile”, “Don’t dream it’s over”, “Roar determination keeps dream alive”, “They fear us” etc) but the failure to win leaves them needing to beat Peru and reliant on the French. Dream still alive, or hopes hanging in the balance? There’s a fine line between the two.

And then there’s Tim Cahill. Or rather, there isn’t Tim Cahill. Plenty of fans are unhappy with the decision not to bring on the 38-year-old towards the end of the match in Samara, when it appeared the game was set up perfectly for a classic Cahill intervention.

Robert Speed is one such person. “Van Marwijk has totally ignored, and shown a lack of respect for, recent Australian soccer history,” he writes in. “We’ve historically struggled to score goals. Cahill in large part solved that problem for the last 12 years or so – he has continually found goals when we needed it. We wouldn’t even be in Russia without his goals in qualifying (think home leg v Syria). Yet van Marwijk thinks he knows better? Well, he’s been proven wrong – our only goals so far are from the penalty spot (from handballs that we were a bit lucky to get). Van Marwijk doesn’t seem to understand what Cahill has always done for Australia. He is our proven goal scorer, and those are rare as hen’s teeth.”

SBS frontman Craig Foster has prompted the ire of some people with a series of tweets in which he invoked a bloody battle of the first world war to urge France to victory against Denmark.

So, it’s all Lionel Messi’s fault, right? Hmm. Willy Caballero’s howler didn’t exactly help matters, as the podders discuss after another hectic day of action. Max Rushden is joined by Paul Doyle and Marcela Mora y Araujo in the studio, while Kieran Pender phones in to discuss Australia’s pluck and Dom Fifield talks all things England.