World Cup 2022: England head for quarter-finals as last-16 continues – live

If you enjoy seeing people’s faces while they talk on the Guardian Football Weekly podcast, then have I got the video clip for you. Here are Max Rushden, Philippe Auclair, Barry Glendenning and Mark Langdon talking about England last night, saying that Jude Bellingham had evoked memories of Gazza.

England coach Gareth Southgate has said he is looking forward to England’s test against the “very best” after beating Senegal. PA Media reports him saying:

It’s the biggest test that we can face. They’re world champions, incredible depth of talent, outstanding individual players, very difficult to play against and to score goals against. It’s a fantastic challenge, brilliant game for us to prepare for.

The two quarter-finals that are already in place are fantastic, historic football rivalries and great games from the past. A brilliant game for us to be involved with and test ourselves against the very best.

Southgate went on to say:

Of course Mbappé is a world-class player and has already delivered big moments in this tournament and in previous tournaments. But there’s also, I think Antoine Griezmann is now over 70 consecutive games for France and I think he’s also a phenomenal player. We know Olivier Giroud so well and they have outstanding young midfield players as well.

So, everywhere you look when we’re studying France at every age group, they have incredible depth of talent in every position. It’s a huge test but one that we’re really looking forward to and it’s a great challenge for our team now.

My colleague Kevin Rawlinson has a piece featuring the views of Mike Dodds, who coached Jude Bellingham as a youth:

There was already excitement around Bellingham when he left Birmingham as a teenager to further his career in Germany with Borussia Dortmund – a club with a demonstrable record of giving playing time at the top level to young talent. “I think that [move] probably sums up his mindset because, when he made the decision to leave Birmingham at 16 or 17, his decision was a footballing decision,” said Dodds.

He stressed the maturity needed of a teenager to make such a decision as the world dealt with the kind of uncertainty at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in the summer of 2020.

“He could have probably made easier decisions in terms of his lifestyle, his family. But he wanted to make a footballing decision – what was best for his career – that he thought was the next step for him.

Dodds described Bellingham as an “authentic” character, adding that the two keep in touch regularly. “I think the nice thing is we don’t really talk about football. Now we talk about normal life stuff. And I think that’s one thing I’m really proud of … Seeing him doing what he’s doing in the World Cup, I think I’m probably more proud of the fact that we have a relationship that transcends the football pitch.”

Read more here: Kevin Rawlinson – Jude Bellingham’s will to win set him apart, says youth coach

World Cup diplomacy latest: AP reports that the leader of the United Arab Emirates made a surprise visit today to Qatar – his first since leading a yearslong four-nation boycott of Doha over a political dispute that poisoned regional relations.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who also serves as the ruler of Abu Dhabi, made the trip at the invitation of Qatar’s ruling emir, sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the state-run WAM news agency reported.

Here are some vox pops from fans after the England v Senegal game yesterday, many of which seem a little bit nervous at the prospect of facing France next.

Aaron Timms has written for the Guardian on how Fox Sports’ US World Cup coverage is an unmissable abomination, with the broadcaster offering up “a feast of gaffes, stupidity, and unconquerable on-air awkwardness” which, frankly, sounds unmissable:

Insults to our collective intelligence have come from all angles: the constant, tedious analogies to American sports (stepovers and feints described as “dekes” and “hesis”, corners constantly compared to “pick and rolls”); the neverending quest to “contextualize” the world game by comparing whole countries to American states (“Qatar is the size of Connecticut,” we were told repeatedly on the opening day); the network’s embrace and promotion of the interminable “it’s called soccer” cause (who cares?); the strange extended segment in the run-up to USA v England about how much Harry Kane likes American football (ditto); the employment of Piers Morgan as a special guest pundit (no thanks).

On the field things may be developing nicely, but off it US football – or the version of it that Fox Sports serves up to us every four years – seems destined to remain stuck in a permanent 1994, forever on the brink of becoming America’s next big thing, forever hostage to a cabal of C-suite cable bros intent on translating this exotic, bewildering sport into the language of touchdowns, home runs, and alley oops for what they see as the country’s blinking, insular Yankee Doodle millions. This bizarre cultural parochialism does a disservice to both America’s players, now a sizeable constituency in European club football, and the legions of fans on these shores whose understanding of the sport is every bit as sophisticated as anything you’ll find on the terraces of Camp Nou, Anfield, or La Bombonera.

Read more here: Aaron Timms – Fox Sports’ US World Cup coverage is an unmissable abomination

England’s midfielder Declan Rice has been speaking to the media, and said that France should fear England ahead of Saturday’s quarter-final. He told reporters:

I’ve said it all along. I don’t think we get the credit we deserve in our performances. I think if you look at other teams, like the Netherlands and Argentina, they win their games comfortably and they get called masterclasses. With us, it always gets picked off. The negative things always come that way.

If you look at the last couple of games, it’s been faultless. I think countries, like I said the other day, should be starting to fear us now because we’re a great team.

Rice was also bullish about England’s record in front of goal … and defending theirs, telling the media:

We’re silencing the critics. Going into the tournament, there was a lot of talk that we don’t score enough goals. That’s another one we’ve kept people quiet on. There was a lot of scrutiny around the defence and conceding goals, but it’s been solid. We’re going to keep building and pushing.

Asked if this England squad was better than the one that reached the final of Euro 2020 last year, Rice said:

Yeah. We’ve been pushing so well as a team. We’re really together now on the pitch and off the pitch. As a team we really complement each other really well. The boys I’m playing with in midfield, we really complement each other. The boys up front, he [Southgate] can bring in an attacker and nothing will change. And the back four has been absolutely solid. We’re building a really nice foundation but it’s down to us now. There’s no point buzzing about [beating Senegal] if we can’t push on and beat France.

He stressed that this England set-up doesn’t seem to fear the big teams in big games any more:

Against the big teams, there has always been a lot of talk on us using the ball. I think in this tournament we’ve pretty much controlled every game. We’ve had a fair share of possession, we’ve moved it really well.

The opening stages have been really shaky because teams are really trying to stop us playing. But once we get that goal, they have to change. It opens up and then you really start to see us play.

Against France, we’ve seen some weaknesses in them that we can try to exploit. It’s set up for a great game.

These are the games we want to play in. They only come round once: England v France, quarter-final, it doesn’t get bigger than that. We’ve got six days to prepare now and I’m sure the world will be watching. We really want to progress.

I’m going to confess that my Japanese isn’t all that, but some things about football transcend language. The Japanese team social media accounts have just put out an epic six minute supercut of Japan’s highs and lows at World Cups, as well as what it has all meant for the development of the sport in Japan. If you want old people playing football, kids playing football on the beach, blind football, disability football, interspersed with clips of the Samauri Blue looking dejected after various round of 16 matches, this is the supercut for you.

Whack the sound up, because it is all soundtracked by Syori No Emi Wo Kimi To from Ukasuka-G which the Guardian has previously described as “bombastic indie from J-pop’s answer to the Killers” which “builds to a climax so relentlessly silly that, by the six minute mark, you are somehow won over.”

Jonathan Liew

Jonathan Liew was at the Al Bayt Stadium last night to watch ENgland and Senegal, and today he writes for us that Phil Foden gave a seminal display to show England he really is sensational:

In England’s era of extreme competence there is a danger that nights like these, games like these, performances like these, somehow become normalised. There has been no outburst of national hysteria: no Gazza explosion, no Owen moment, no Rooney-mania. Foden’s image does not hang from one of Doha’s many skyscrapers.

Even in the aftermath of this 3-0 win against Senegal it was Jude Bellingham who seemed to attract the bulk of the tributes, Kane who claimed the player-of-the-match award (although when asked who really deserved it, Foden was the first name Kane mentioned). Here, as for much of his career to date, Foden’s gift was assimilated, priced in, accepted as established fact.

Perhaps, in the long run, this is for the best: a long-overdue recession in the hype economy of English football. In a sense Foden’s curse has been to spend his entire career surrounded by very good footballers in a successful team. There is no real sense of trajectory, no demons to slay, no haters to conquer. Foden was born sensational and everyone knew it. At no point has he really had the capacity to surprise us.

Read more here: Jonathan Liew – Phil Foden gives seminal display to show England he really is sensational

Just a quick note here that Saudi Arabia, who have been touted as potential World Cup co-hosts in 2030, look set to host the 2027 Asian Cup, after India, the other country bidding for the event, has withdrawn.

AP reports that the bids from India and Saudi Arabia had been shortlisted by the AFC’s executive committee in October and the final decision was expected to be made at a regional congress in February. Saudi Arabia is now the only candidate.

The 2023 edition will be played in Qatar after China was replaced as host because of the complications around China’s zero-Covid policy. Qatar are the current champions, having won the event when it was last staged, pre-pandemic, in the UAE in 2019.

Juninho Pernambucano’s point there about Brazil being just expected to go through against what are perceived to be weaker sides did ring a little bit of a bell, having lived in England for quite some time.

Here is how the English newspapers reacted to yesterday’s victory for the Three Lions over the Lions of Teranga, which you suspect has merely postponed the gnashing and wailing of teeth about “Why didn’t Southgate pick Grealish / Foden / Rashford / Saka / Mount / Maddison” [Delete as appropriate depending on who he does pick against France]

Speaking of Brazil, Juninho Pernambucano writes for the Guardian this morning to say that Brazil are the best team in the world but pressure weighs heavily on the players:

For a football team to be successful, just in a developed society, you need its people – ie, players – to work together to achieve something special. In real life you need people to collaborate to evolve. That goes for every country. But in Brazil we have something different that I cannot see in other countries.

There is an enormous amount of passion around football in Brazil and the way everyone in the country analyses the national team is radical, at times simplistic and often overwhelming when it comes to criticising the players and the coach, making it seem as if football is very easy for those who play, especially if they are professional players. In Brazil it seems to be difficult to accept that football, as well as life, evolves.

And so Brazil are under enormous pressure before their last-16 game against South Korea after losing their third group game against Cameroon. They also lost two more players to injury, Alex Telles and Gabriel Jesus, but Neymar should be fit again. The fact that they are playing South Korea, who everyone thinks they should beat, only adds to the expectation, the pressure and the sense that Brazil have to go through. It would have been different if they were facing Portugal or Uruguay from that group.

Read more here: Juninho Pernambucano – Brazil are the best team in the world but pressure weighs heavily on the players

Away from the World Cup for a minute, overnight AP have been carrying an update on the condition of Brazilian legend Pelé.

Mauricio Savarese writes that two of his daughters and one of his grandsons has said the three-time World Cup winner has been hospitalised since Tuesday to treat a respiratory infection aggravated by Covid-19. They added that the 82-year-old is under no imminent risk of death.

Kely and Flavia Nascimento and Arthur Arantes do Nascimento said in an interview that aired Sunday night in Brazil that Pelé, who is also undergoing chemotherapy in his fight against cancer, is expected to leave the Albert Einstein hospital in São Paulo once he fully recovers from the respiratory infection. Neither the family nor the hospital have any predictions in that regard.

The hospital said Saturday that Pelé is responding well to treatment for the infection and his health condition had not worsened over the previous 24 hours. The hospital did not issue any statements on the former footballer’s health Sunday.

“He is sick, he is old. But at the moment, he is there because of the lung infection. And once he feels better, he will go home again,” Kely Nascimento told TV Globo. She lives in the United States and spoke on video. “He is not saying goodbye in a hospital at the moment,” she added.

You know the drill by now. Overnight Max and the gang have been producing more podcast goodness for your delight. Barry Glendenning, Mark Langdon and Philippe Auclair joined Max Rushden, and it says here “the panel spend most of part one waxing lyrical about Jude Bellingham. And who could blame them?”

Get it in your ears here …

We know half of the final eight at this year’s World Cup like no other: Netherlands, Argentina, France and England. That is an incredibly strong looking line-up of past winners and finalists. Today we will be adding two more teams to their number.

First up at 3pm GMT, Croatia will be looking to emulate the run they made to the final in 2018. Two 0-0 draws and a thumping of Canada in the group stages sees them unbeaten so far, but suggests they haven’t quite clicked yet. They face a Japan team who have shocked both Germany and Spain and must be on a high. This is Japan’s fourth appearance in the round of 16. They have never won one. Could today be the day?

Then at 7pm GMT Brazil will start as perpetual heavy favourites against South Korea, despite the South American side’s stumble against Cameroon in their final group game. Brazil had only needed a point to top their World Cup group for the 11th consecutive time, but instead a much-changed lineup fell to a defeat, and only their superior goal difference over Switzerland kept them in top spot. South Korea’s late winner against Portugal came in a game that they, frankly, had never looked like winning. It means they have a chance to emulate the squad of 2002, the only other time South Korea have been further than the round of 16.

Please join me for all the buildup to those games, and no doubt a lot of analysis of yesterday’s performances by England and France – both of whom ended up winning by scores that perhaps flattered how tricky they had initially been finding their respective matches with Senegal and Poland. We should also get press quotes from the remaining four teams in action tomorrow – Morocco, Spain, Portugal and Switzerland. Do drop me a line at martin.belam@theguardian.com.