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Sweden sound like they're quaking in their boots:

"We heard from Sweden coach Janne Andersson, but how are his players feeling about the prospect of facing England for a place in the semis? Needless to say, they're confident. Why wouldn't they be?

"Bring them on," said striker Marcus Berg. "Most of them have respect for us and we feel secure regardless of who we meet."

Last night's goalscorer Emil Forsberg said: "We have had nightmare opponents wherever we went, and no matter who we get they'll have to work hard to win. We believe in what we're doing and believe we can do something great, and that we can achieve something fantastic."

And midfielder Gustav Svensson said: "I don't think their players want to meet us. We have shown time and again that we are a team that no-one wants to meet, a team that allows very few goal chances. If you ask their players, I don't think any of them will want to meet us."

I thought England just about shaded what was a very poor game.  The incident with Henderson was a red card and penalty all day long though Henderson play acted and some England played were trying to get the Colombian sent off (both of which I thought England didn't do ).  Eng created precious little and bar penalties and the odd corner look to have very little attacking threat.  I think that will catch up with them at some stage.  Of the four teams in the bottom of the draw I'd have Croatia well ahead of the other three who are much of a muchness, who could beat each other on any given day.  I think Croatia will beat Russia if they go back to their attacking game which they didn't seem to do against Denmark.  I fancy Eng Swe to go to pens.  Swe are an "English" type side, strong (mentally as well), well organised but with little cutting edge, though they did hump Mex 3-0.  Eng might get to the semi final but I'd think Croatia at 100% will take them apart, against Russia on the other hand they'd have a good chance.  You need to attack the English centre halves and move the ball quickly to expose Eng's lack of pace.  Also despite their first XI having a good long rest, they looked out on their feet at 75 mins.  I still think the overall winner will come from the other half of the draw but one thing about this World Cup is that it has been unpredictable.

Problems for Dearest Arlene if there is substance to Penny Mordaunt's comments on the Today programme re NI abortion

What did she say??

How Carrasco gets to play in the World Cup is a mystery. He wouldn't get a game for Antrim. His attitude is awful too.

I don't believe it!

I get the impression that Brazil have at least one more gear if needed.

Aye but are the extra points enough to do that, everyone else in top 5 has many more games/correct scores. I think it's only 2 points extra this round??

It's 10 for a correct score in this round and 5 for a correct result

Alan Longmuir, bass player with the Bay City Rollers, aged 70.

Croatia got a slice of luck last night.  Both they and Spain show that if you don't really try to score you could be in trouble.  England will never have a better opportunity to win something.

Latest Odds from Ladbrokes (to win the World Cup - e/w 1/3 the odds if team gets to final):  England joint 3rd favourites though this may reflect where the money is going in UK.

Brazil  7/2
Spain  4/1
Belgium  7/1
England  7/1
France  8/1
Croatia  12/1
Argentina  14/1
Colombia  20/1
Portugal  20/1
Uruguay  20/1
Switzerland  40/1
Russia  50/1
Mexico  66/1
Sweden  66/1
Denmark  80/1
Japan  150/1

[are]

All that aside, some cracking games lined up for the first knockout stage.

It's hard to see a game I'm not looking forward to in fairness. France Argentina will be a contest to see which of them can actually start performing like they should be able to, Uruguay Portugal might be very defensive, but intriguing, Spain Russia should be very open, Croatia Denmark will be very interesting, Brazil Mexico should be open and entertaining, Belgium Japan the same, Sweden Switzerland should be sneaky good. Two teams that wouldn't get your pulse racing, but they should be a good match and Switzerland impressed me a bit more than i thought they would. And then of course Colombia v England. I hope Rodriguez is able to go, but it's probably unlikely.

The problem is Argentina are performing at their level. They scraped through qualifying and only did so after Messi came back from retirement. The squad isn't good. At all. Mascherano playing centre mid is a terrible idea. All his inspirational, heart on the sleeve stuff is nothing if he's only making up for his own mistakes.

That's true in a general sense, defensively they are a mess, but I don't think Higuain, Messi, Aguero, Di Maria have done as much in an attacking sense as you would expect. But yes, they may not have much more to go, you are right.

Tim Vickery, the BBC's South American football correspondent, was on the radio saying that Argentina's problems didn't surprise him.  They haven't played well since the last WC, domestic football is a mess and their academy system has broken down and they don't seem to be producing good young players.  Pavon and Meza, two players who still play in Argentina, have been tipped as the next big thing but they've looked a bit out of their depth at this level.

[Saturday June 303pm: France v Argentina, Kazan7pm: Uruguay v Portugal, Sochi]

All that aside, some cracking games lined up for the first knockout stage.

Saturday June 30
3pm: France v Argentina, Kazan
7pm: Uruguay v Portugal, Sochi

I've no skin in either game but I can't help thinking that Argentina v Uruguay would be a tasty quarter final

One of England, Colombia, Sweden or Switzerland will be in a WC semi final.  I'd say they all think they have a great chance of doing that.  England haven't been seriously tested yet.  Panama were the weakest team in the competition by a distance (apart from Germany ) and they stumbled past Tunisia.  They could chin Colombia or get humped 3-0. 

The competition is still wide open.  I haven't seen an outstanding team yet.  Croatia probably the best so far.

First time I've changed a prediction before the game.  Had Poland down to win 1-0 and changed it to 1-1 just before kick off.  Eejit!

Intriguing for England.  Go to win the group and play Japan but then Brazil or Mexico in the quarters.  Or try to finish second to play Colombia (probably a better team than Japan), then Sweden or Switzerland?