Key events
Max Rushden
Max Rushden on Bolivian farmers and altitude.
double quotation mark The Azteca is around 2,200m above sea level – which means Dan Burn will be 2,202 metres above sea level. Presumably the Mexican hotel will give him a toddler single bed, legs poking out of the open window as the home fans’ car horns beep all night. We saw what happened to the Ecuador lads. How noise cancelling can noise-cancelling headphones get? How many decoy hotels do England need to get a good night’s sleep?
Barney Ronay
Barney Ronay is primed for the big one in Mexico City. Is this when England finally come good?
double quotation mark Croatia were physically overwhelmed. Ghana were not. Panama took England down into a pit of pain. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) were slick, fearless and a bit unlucky. Through all this the lurking feeling has been: OK, when will it start? No, I mean really start. When will it hit the groove? When do they need to actually be good?
We shall have a look forward to the England game. Yesterday was all a bit silly as rumours began circulating about the change to the kick-off time in Mexico. My phone was pinging with school dads excited to not to have to stay up until 3am BST to watch the game in its entirety.
Now the plan for one father is to watch Brazil v Norway and then Mike Bassett England Manager before England starts. Other ideas can be found here …
Jonathan Wilson
Jonathan Wilson has taken a look at the African teams in the tournament and whether they have, in fact, underperformed.
double quotation mark Nine African sides made it through their groups, and those who had insisted Caf deserved better could claim vindication. Uefa and Conmebol, the South American federation, got 13 and five sides through to the last 32 respectively. It was Asia and, surprisingly, North and Central America who underperformed, only Japan and Australia making it through from the AFC and only the three hosts from Concacaf. In that regard, this has been an excellent World Cup for Africa, even if Tunisia did turn in one of the worst performances by any side in history. By falling behind after seven minutes then four minutes and three minutes in their three games, they broke Mexico’s 96-year-old record for most time spent trailing in a World Cup, taking the mark from 240 minutes to a remarkable 256.
The latest World Cup Daily has landed. Get Max and Baz in your ears now!
Australia lost to Egypt on penalties in one of the more disastrous shootout cock ups. Changing goalkeepers is a bold move, especially when Mat Ryan made a right Shilton of himself.
Jonathan Wilson was there.
Some comforting words from Zlatan.
Jack Snape was left to ponder what could have been.
Jurgen Klopp is the obvious – and best – choice for Germany. They were pretty mediocre throughout the competition, getting lucky against Cote d’Ivoire, then succumbing to Ecuador and Paraguay. I am impressed than Nagelsmann felt it could carry on.
Klopp confirms talks over Germany job
Jürgen Klopp has confirmed he’s in negotiations to take over as Germany coach and says he’s “recharged” the energy he was missing when he left Liverpool.
Klopp is the German soccer federation’s preferred candidate after Julian Nagelsmann resigned Friday, four days after Germany lost on penalties to Paraguay in the World Cup round of 32.
“Julian has stepped down and the (federation) is working on the succession and has approached me in the course of those considerations,” said Klopp, speaking from New York on German broadcaster Magenta TV in his role as a World Cup commentator late Friday.
We will move along to Fifa kick-off tombola in a bit but we shall run through the rest of Friday’s action.
I think I speak for many football fans when I celebrate Ghana’s elimination as they were pretty much unwatchable.
Ed Aarons witnessed their demise to Colombia in Kansas.
Thanks David. Total Editorial from the Guardian sports desk this morning as we react to the situation. We can play in many positions and it often bamboozles the opposition.
In an early tactical reshuffle, Will Unwin (better adjusted to altitude) will now take over while I catch my breath. Lots more to come from last night’s games, including Australia really botching their penalty shootout against Egypt.
A game like that deserves its own Some crackers in the set below.
“We did our best and we did it with bravery. Never did we fail to stay true to our identity, which is why I am so proud of what my players did.” The words of Cape Verde coach Bubista after his team gave Lionel Messi and Argentina a mighty scare in Miami.
Rival boss Lionel Scaloni, taking charge of his country for the 100th time, was a relieved man. “We suffered a very difficult game, we are still here but it won’t be easy, this is a very difficult World Cup. I hope the fans can have a drink now to relax for a bit.”
More quotes here from last night’s 3-2 epic.
Cape Verde out after classic with Argentina
There’s only one place to start – that World Cup classic between Argentina and Cape Verde. Here’s Barney Ronay (who watched it unfold at the Miami Stadium) on how the tiny island nation took the World Cup holders to the brink.
“Cape Verde, once again, were not done. They pressed, won three corners in quick succession. And with 102 minutes on the clock made it 2-2, with a moment of startling brilliance from Sydney Lopes Cabral, a goal that felt like one of the great World Cup moments, shades of Josimar ‘86, mixed with François Omam-Biyik, 1990 and all that.
“Cabral took the ball way out on the left, nipped inside, measured his strides, and produced the most beautifully pure right foot shot into the far corner past Emiliano Martínez, the ball seeming to hang in the damp Florida air, a perfect white orb, following that delicious parabola into the far corner.”
Preamble
Hello and welcome to live coverage of day 24 at the World Cup. We’ll have reaction to a thrilling day 23 and build-up to the first matches of the last 16: Canada v Morocco and Paraguay v France.
