Key events
Kurt Perleberg is backing the Americans: “The USMNT will defeat the Netherlands today.”
Conclusive.
Nedum Onuoha has been on Sky Sports News backing USA to overcome Netherlands. Is anyone else in the same boat? There is plenty of attacking talent in the USMNT squad but I fear their defence is a touch suspect.
England are four matches away from winning the World Cup. Jonathan Wilson asks ‘but are they any good at football?’.
Naturally, while my colleagues are off galavanting in Doha, I have been speaking to the former manager of a non-league team. Do not worry, it is very much World Cup-related. Two Senegal players have represented non-league teams in England. Can you name the other?
We should remind ourselves of yesterday’s action.
Starting with Serbia v Switzerland.
Barney Ronay’s analysis.
The match report.
And Cameroon v Brazil.
Barney Ronay has been looking at the Aspire project and how it’s influence.
Preamble
The group stages are over, so it is time to relax. Oh, the knockout stages begin today.
The action kicks off with Netherlands v USA at 3pm and concludes with Argentina v Australia in the evening. Betting folk would back the Dutch and Argentinians to progress but this tournament has not been a simple one.
Elsewhere, there is plenty to build up to in the coming days, including England’s match tomorrow night against Senegal. Gareth Southgate’s side are back to get to the quarters but their opponents will be desperate to cause an upset.
As well as looking forward, I suspect there will be some fallout from yesterday. Uruguay’s upset with the officials and TV monitors might cause a few problems for them and Granit Xhaka’s alleged naughtiness might be assessed by Fifa.
