World Cup 2026: England frustrated; Scotland face Brazil; Infantino defends hydration breaks – live

Key events

Which I guess brings us to our next round of action. Before we properly dig in, let’s acquaint ourselves with the panoply of permutations.

Colombia played pretty well, I thought, and would’ve won by more were it not for Lionel Mpasi in the DRC net. I was disappointed by the winner because on first look, I thought Daniel Muñoz had done him with the eyes, but it turned out to be a deflection.

Panama have come on loads since England clattered them in 2018 – Ghana also got away with it against them. Luka Modric, though, what a player.

Qatar’s manager, Julen Lopetegui, has revealed Assim Madibo spent the eve of their final Group A match visiting Ismael Kone after the Canada midfielder underwent successful surgery for a broken leg.

Fifa’s view of Iran training with #168 flags remains to be seen. Their regulations state that “equipment must not have any political, religious or personal slogans, statements or images” or players and/or the team may be sanctioned by the competition organiser.

Iran were only permitted to arrive in LA before draws against New Zealand and Belgium 24 hours before the games, leading their head coach, Amir Ghalenoei to label Iran the “most oppressed” team at the tournament.

Photograph: Ben Fisher

I don’t want to get all conspiracist, but you don’t have be John Le Carré to wonder if TV companies benefitting from ad revenue has an upside for Fifa even though they’re not cut in on each specific deal.

Infantino defends hydration breaks

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has defended the introduction of hydration breaks at the World Cup, insisting that for football’s ⁠governing body they are driven purely by sporting considerations and not commercial interests.

Mandatory three-minute breaks, introduced in the 22nd and 67th minutes ⁠of every match at ⁠the tournament, have ​drawn criticism from players, coaches and fans since the opening round of fixtures. The breaks, introduced to help players cope with high temperatures ⁠across North America, have opened up additional advertising windows for broadcasters.

This has fuelled debate over their impact on the game, with some viewers complaining about ⁠being exposed to commercials during the three-minute stoppages.

“There is no additional revenue for Fifa, as all ​commercial agreements were signed well in advance. ‌So, this is not ‌a financial issue for us. For us, it is purely a sporting matter,” Infantino said in ‌a statement on Wednesday.

The breaks allow coaching staff to give in-game tactical instructions, a shift critics say disrupts match momentum and fundamentally alters the nature of the game.

England manager Thomas Tuchel said the additional break “interrupts and changes the identity of the football match“, while Uruguay coach Marcelo Bielsa said dividing matches into shorter segments takes away the fundamental characteristic ‌of the game.

Spain coach Luis de la Fuente and Netherlands captain Virgil van Dijk have supported the intent behind the rule in extreme heat, but questioned ​the need for it in cooler conditions and at covered venues.

“The main reason is the heat, but we also have to understand that in a competition like the (FIFA) World Cup, played over 39 days, with teams potentially playing eight matches in those 39 days, having a moment to rest ⁠is extremely important,” Infantino said.

“What matters even more to us is ensuring ​that all teams, in every ​match, are playing under the ​same conditions.

“It’s very difficult to accept that a coach might have the opportunity ​to influence a ‌match by making adjustments ​simply because it’s ​hotter, while in another match, where the temperature is slightly lower, the same coach doesn’t have the same opportunity.”

Infantino added that the breaks had not reduced the intensity of matches, suggesting players were able to maintain a high level of performance throughout games.

“Is it possible we all got over excited by England beating an old and possibly quite poor Croatia team (who laboured to a 1-0 win over Panama)?” wonders Samuel Dodson. “Tuchel’s record against any reasonable side seems to be losses against Japan and Senegal and a draw against another ailing once-decent side in Uruguay. Friendlies don’t really matter, of course; and that second half surge for 15 minutes really was very fun. And not very much like how we expect England to play. This stodgy draw against Ghana however is exactly how I expect England to play. Remember 0-0 against Algeria? The USA? The good news of course is that the performance and result means we can go back to what we do best – endless debate and faux controversy and anger over team selections. Had we beaten Ghana comfortably here in not sure we or the media would have quite known how to react or what to talk about.”

Croatia definitely played into England’s hands, but the way they took control of the game was impressive. Watching it, my sense was that at some point, the defence would let them down, and Japan are a particularly difficult opponent for how they’re trying to play – so too Spain – but on a good day they can beat anyone and even on a bad day, they’ve the attacking talent to save themselves. Do I think they’re likely champions? No, but I don’t think it’s impossible.

Aha, the latest World Cup Daily is here for your ears.

Remember 2018, when Emmanuel Macron got drenched as Vladimir Putin relaxed under an umbrella held for him? How will Trump assert himself to this level?

Photograph: Matthias Schräder/AP

I was really disappointed with Reece James. He’s a superb player capable of so much better going forward and England really needed that from him – overlaps, underlaps and crosses. But he delivered almost nothing.

Email! “‘I don’t care about Messi’ was such an insulting and insensitive remark from such a talented player,” says Krishnamoorthy V of Ronaldo. “This is what ego does to your personality. Ghana sending CR7 and co home will be so satisfying.”

I think that imperviousness has made Ronaldo what he is. Of course, he’s not really impervious at all, but thinks he is, and that’s all that matters.

Jacob makes a fair point here, that Palmer and Foden didn’t do enough to force their way into the squad. But both are special talents who’ve shown quality miles beyond that which we’ve seen from Madueke and Gordon, who are not, and neither of whom were all that good last season either.

Again, though, I come back to the big-space/small-space thing, and the lack of balance in the squad. And, judging by the substitutions, it’s not something management see as an issue – the changes were like for like, rather than seeking to alter or vary the method of attack.

The good news for England is that, as they progress, teams will, most likely, look to attack them, leaving space for their speed and physicality to exploit. But the squad lack guile and magic, completely unnecessarily, and it’s not clear Tuchel really groks that.

Anderson, Rice and Bellingham are all fantastic players, but none have the deftness around the box to play quick combinations, or the eye to thread through little passes. It was obvious at half-time that, given what was available, the wise move was to hook one of the first two for Kobbie Mainoo, who is brilliant at finding space in traffic.

Or, in other words, a balanced midfield is not three power-players; at least one touch-player is required, and Mainoo is the only one England have. Perhaps you might say Eberechi Eze is that too, and he came on far too late to influence the game or for it to look like the coaching staff are on top of the problem.

I agree with Barney here: this was a small-space game, in which England used big-space players.

Partly this is because of the squad Thomas Tuchel picked. If I was facing England and you offered me Noni Madueke, Cole Palmer and Phil Foden, I know which of those three I’d back myself against. Madueke is a decent player, but no more than that; he isn’t special, and the other two are.

Palmer, in particular, has the ability to change the pace of a game and do surprising things others can’t, exactly what you need against an organised low block. But that wast the only glaring issue: Lewis Hall would’ve given England natural width on the left and also excellent passing out of defence, but he’s not even in the squad; and, though Trent Alexander-Arnold is no one’s idea of a proper defender, if you’re using him it’s because you need a goal, and leaving his delivery and craft at home makes absolutely no sense.

I wonder if these errors reflect a manager unfamiliar with tournament football; Tuchel has decided to play a particular way, and picked a collection of profiles he thinks can do that. But that’s left him without the means to change things properly; if things go wrong, he can swap players, but what if, as yesterday, the issue is the system and its principles?

And was Jordan Pickford fortunate not to get a red card when he hared out of box to collide with Abdul Fatawu?

I feel not. Had Fatawu got a touch on the ball, Pickford was toast, but because neither player did, I don’t think we can say there was a foul. Both went for it, both missed, so it makes most sense is to call it a collision.

How do we feel about the penalty that wasn’t?

I don’t really see how you can’t give it. Fatawu was in and Konsa launches into him, getting nowhere near the ball with no chance of getting at the ball – which makes it a red card too.

You can relieve the game with the great Rob Smyth’s MBM.

As far as goalless draws go, I thought it an engaging one. But plenty of things for Thomas Tuchel to ponder, which we’ll dig into into which we’ll dig presently.

Summary

Here’s David Hytner’s match report.

And so to England. There are some absolutely gorgeous shots here.

Headloss dept:

I’m definitely not above hunting for this footage.

This “I’m back” situation, though; it’ll take more than bagging a brace against Uzbekistan for that to be so.

Roberto Martínez has options, too. He could play a wide player up front – Pedro Neto has done it for Chelsea – or Goncalo Ramos, who’s a striker.

But it’s not just Ronaldo preventing this team from working as it should – Bernardo Silva was left out and, if they’re to fulfil their potential – they’ve got the players to win the thing – he must surely play a key role. I’d get him into a midfield three with Vitinha and João Neves, then have Bruno Fernandes and Neto with free roles behind – if we must – Ronaldo.

I think we’re meant to receive this as a point proved.

Surely no one rhose surname isn’t Dos Santos Aveiro really thinks that, though? Ronaldo can still finish – he’ll never lose that – but it’s very hard to even come up with rationale, never mind believe rationale, that says the best version of this Portugal team contains him.

Preamble

We go again! We’ll begin by reflecting on the latest action – Portugal getting their competition going by thrashing Uzbekistan, England and Ghana near-enough securing passage to the knockouts, Croatia just about seeing off Panama, now eliminated, and Colombia forcing their way past DR Congo.

Then, when we’ve done that, we’ll build up to today’s action, featuring the final round of matches in Group B – Switzerland v Canada and Bosnia and Herzegovina v Qatar; Group C – Morocco v Haiti and Scotland v Brazil… and Group A – South Africa v South Korea and Czechia v México.

I reckon some people might have some thoughts about all of that lot, so we’ll share those of our writers, but do send in yours too.

Let’s do it.