England had their first training session in Brazil as the buildup to the World Cup continued
Sean Ingle: why are England being written off?
World Cup stunning moments: Banks is stricken
Pick your World Cup all-time XI and challenge others
Guardian Football is now on YouTube
4.57pm BST
Right. That's all from us today. Thanks for all the comments, tweets, opinion and emails. The comments section will remain open and available for you to keeping on nattering away in. Enjoy the rest of your evening. Bye!
4.54pm BST
And you thought Hackney Marshes was the most beautiful place to play football. Silly you. Click here for some more great images of football pitches around the world.
4.44pm BST
@ianmccourt player to flop, I'll say Leo Messi. He's set his standard so high and he hasn't quite hit it at the World Cup.
Correct. And yet he still made the World Cup's top 100 footballers of all time. These Guardian football journalists, what do they know, eh?
4.43pm BST
Stop! The! Presses!
4.39pm BST
In today's O Fiverão ... Fifa-sanctioned entertainment and fun, tiki-taka Talibans, Frank Lampards writing masterclass and STOP Andy Townsend!
4.33pm BST
Sepp Blatter has bemoaned a storm against Fifa over the awarding of the World Cup to Qatar and put the allegations of corruption down to discrimination and racism among the world governing bodys critics. No really.
The Fifa president said the allegations really makes me sad, and insisted that the Qatar situation would be discussed at the Fifa Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Blatters speech to the Confederation of African Football came as BP and Budweiser joined the ranks of World Cup sponsors pressing Fifa to tackle the corruption allegations.
4.30pm BST
The best video of a group of elephants painted in international football teams' colours taking on a group of local students in a football match to mark the starts of the World Cup that you will see today.
4.23pm BST
Need a laugh? This should help thanks to all those who sent it in!
4.14pm BST
In less important England news. Jack Wilshere has been assigned more training; Steven Gerrard didn't train for a full session but did a light work out instead; and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is rocking a knee brace but appears to be running up and down quite nicely.
.@Alex_OxChambo running in England training pic.twitter.com/fe0BVTvAG6
4.09pm BST
Big news time (2). Our man in Rio, Daniel Taylor, has been in touch to tell us that the England squad released some tension this morning by re-enacting scenes from Home Alone the first one, the best one. The team bus was trundling its way to training and Roy had a nagging feeling that they had forgotten to something. He turned to Gary Neville. Had he locked up? Had he turned off the lights? Then it hit him. ROSS!!! They had forgotten Ross Barkley. Said Everton midfielder was huffing and puffing his way behind the bus and eventually made it on board, with the sound of his team-mates cheering in his ears.
3.50pm BST
@ianmccourt Which Team do you think will flop? My bet is Holland!
3.48pm BST
Big news time. Ecuador have made a last-minute alteration to their World Cup squad because of an injury players picked up a in warm-up match. Segundo Castillo has failed to recover from a knee injury he suffered in a tackle with Mexico's Luis Montes and so the experienced midfielder will be replaced by Oswaldo Minda.
3.40pm BST
Hey yo. Anyone else got any suggestions for the big players that are going to do a flop in this World Cup thing? Don't make me have to
scour Twitter for another riff
engage my brain to come up with another brilliant idea.
3.36pm BST
Can we all get together and wish, Miroslav Klose, 65, a happy geburtstag?
3.24pm BST
England were greeted at said training centre with the tune of We are the Champions. Those Brazilians and their sense of humour, eh?
3.21pm BST
Dominic Fifield has been back in touch and this time his subject matter is the England training centre in Rio.
3.13pm BST
Raphael Honigstein has pulled up a chair with Philipp Lahm to talk about Cristiano Ronaldo, winning the World Cup and the loss of Marco Reus. Enjoy.
The idea, Joachim Löw had said, was to bid Germany farewell with a smile. Fridays effortless 6-1 win over Armenia in the last friendly did leave some happy faces behind in Mainz, but the national manager boarded the plane to Brazil with a fresh, deep furrow on his forehead.
On top of other worries, Löw must now make do without Marco Reus, his best attacking midfielder/false No9. The 25-year-old damaged a ligament in an ankle in an innocuous tackle in the centre-circle and was ruled out the next morning. A dream has burst from one second to the next, said the Borussia Dortmund player.
3.00pm BST
If have been waiting for an AC-Jimbo narrated animated history of Holland and their early ignominy, their unforgettable tussles with their neighbours Germany, their redemption via Johan Cruyff and their solitary success, 1988's Euro Championships, then I have just the thing for you. Enjoy.
2.52pm BST
Bored of all this reading? Feast your eyes on this then:
2.47pm BST
@ianmccourt Rooney will be disappointing, mostly due to the failings of the team. Messi will show that he's Argentina's second best ever.
2.45pm BST
"Matt Doney would have no reason to be nervous had he seen Spain's friendly with El Salvador on Saturday," reassures Mark Weiner. "Diego Costa was heavily involved. A great save from the keeper denied him one goal, and he set up Spain's first goal with an amazing, acrobatic header."
2.37pm BST
The Spanish coach, Vicente del Bosque, has slammed haters of Spain and insisted that
a Twister is miles better than a Feast on a hot summers day
they are not rigid 'Talibans' and can vary their trademark tiki-taka possession football if necessary.
Spain begin their bid to retain the trophy on Friday against Holland, their rivals in the final four years ago in South Africa when the Dutch used a physical approach to try and unsettle them.
We are not Talibans with just one way of playing, Del Bosque told Marca. Possession without having depth doesnt have any point. For that reason we are working so that the team can pressure to win back possession and then as a group attack.
2.28pm BST
Graham Parker knows so much about the US team that they hooked him up to a big computer to try to teach him some things, but had so much knowledge it overloaded and then it got really hot and caught on fire. Here's his latest piece on why a convincing performance in Jacksonville on Saturday settled most of the outstanding issues going into the World Cup. Enjoy.
Amid all the comparisons between Landon Donovan and Julian Green, or Landon Donovan and Brad Davis, or even Landon Donovan in 2014 and Landon Donovan in 2010, most of the conversation tended to focus on the players omission from the World Cup purely regarding what it took away from the side.
There was not much consideration of what a positive, post-Donovan vision of the USA team might look like.
2.18pm BST
For those of you BTL wondering about the Cameroon squad and their current location, worry no more.
Cameroons squad will depart for the World Cup 12 hours later than scheduled after resolving a strike over bonuses that had resulted in them refusing to board the plane to Brazil on Sunday, the nations football federation said.
They have settled a dispute with the government and Fecafoot and will receive 5.8m CFA francs (£7,200) more than the 50m CFA francs originally offered to each player for their participation in the tournament.
2.15pm BST
The video you have all been waiting for:
2.06pm BST
"I worry Diego Costa will be the biggest disappointment" says a nervous Matt Dony. "You just get the feeling Spain's style does him no favours at all. Of course, that might give Torres a chance to re-assert himself as a great striker. (I loved him too much to ever truly hate him!)."
1.59pm BST
Heavy security at England training camp on a Rio military base. #worldcup pic.twitter.com/clQdX6KXh6
1.54pm BST
@ianmccourt Biggest disappointment will be if Messi plays badly,people will say he's no good.
1.54pm BST
My colleague Dominic Fifield has put down his caipirinha long enough to take some snaps of the action in Brazil and send them over. Here's his first effort. Send your marks out of 10 to the usual address.
1.45pm BST
@ianmccourt the biggest player disappointment will be Balotelli. He's gonna stink up the place and get sent off first game v England.
1.35pm BST
In non-World Cup news, AC Milan have told Clarence Seedorf to do one and appointed Filippo Inzaghi in his place. Good for them.
1.32pm BST
OK, shying away from those big topics for now, let's have a moment's relief with this humdinger of a noodle scratcher via the medium of Twitter:
@ianmccourt Hi Ian, WC countdown...which player is going to be the biggest failure? Messi gets my vote #doh!
1.23pm BST
Don't ever say the Guardian doesn't answer the big, important, serious questions that other papers are afraid to ask.
1.17pm BST
The brewhaha continues:
Budweiser now also weighs in on Fifa: "We are concerned about the situation and we are monitoring developments." Who's next?
Budweiser on Fifa and Qatar 2022 allegations: "We are concerned about the situation and are monitoring developments."
Budweiser: "We expect FIFA to take all necessary steps to address the issue."
1.13pm BST
"Hey Ian," cheers Deepak P.N. "That Pelè, eh? Nice bloke, but a bit of a publicity hound. Although I certainly wasn't considering that when I picked him in my all-time World Cup dream team. I got Puskas to partner him upfront; Xavi, Zidane, Stojkovic and Garrincha in midfield; Maldini, Djalma Santos, Beckenbauer and Moore at the back; and Lev Yashin in goal. Unforgettability rating of 4 stars, yet we lost 3-0 to 'Parked the Team Bus FC', who play exactly like you think: defenders everywhere. Either I suck at team-building or you lot suck at game-building.
I did beat Barney Ronay's team 4-1, though. Please tell him he deserved it after putting Harald Schumacher in goal. I think Zidane lost a few teeth."
Speaking of our strangely addictive fantasy football game, come and have a go if you think you're hard enough.
1.05pm BST
Hello,
jaunty
Ian here. How are we? All set to go? Two things to kick off the afternoon with. Myself and my friend are so darn, tooting cool that we spent our Friday night sitting in a pub working out the World Cup draw. We figured that England would not make it out of their group Uruguay would win it and that Germany would reach the finals, knocking our Brazil in the semis, before being beaten by Argentina. Are we right? Secondly, I read a piece the other day that mentioned in passing, post-Hipsterism. Have been flummoxed ever since as to that this could be. Those you can enlighten should holler at the above email and/or Twitter handle.
12.56pm BST
Right, this has been very exciting, but I'm going to get some lunch and leave you in the hipster hands of Jaunty Ian McCourt. Bye!
12.48pm BST
"The idea of England attacking Italy would fill me with more confidence if that wasn't largely a reserve Italy team, with their third-choice keeper," says Nicholas Roscow. "I doubt Prandelli will do this but I'd start Immobile and Insigne against England - the idea of Glen Johnson trying to defend Insigne would give me nightmares if I didn't actually want Italy to win..."
Right-back is definitely a weak spot for England. I'd have been tempted to have had a look at Nathaniel Clyne.
12.45pm BST
A brief summary of all today's news:
12.39pm BST
"Italy have got a truly awesome anthem and I'd damn well sing along to it if I could speak ltalian," says Sean Haworth. I whistle it at least three times a day, Sean. "I think England players would happily sing along to the national anthem if it was any good but it's not. God save the Queen is awful and personally I cannot stand it. Also love how this Blog is running three days before anything is actually happening. Love the world cup, ruddy love it!!!"
12.36pm BST
Well look, we've got footage of Italy's win over Fluminese last night. That Ciro Immobile looks handy, as does Lorenzo Insigne, although the defending and goalkeeping is fairly shoddy. Surely England have to try to attack Italy? I'd play Sterling over Welbeck, that's what I'd do if I was England manager, in between the crying and punching of walls.
12.32pm BST
Owen Gibson has sent this missive from Brazil. The wonders of modern technology.
Pele, who as you would expect has been a very visible presence in Brazil in the run up to the big kick off, appeared at a Fifa event with Cafu last night. Asked about England's chances, the 73-year-old politely said that they deserved respect.
"I think that England - like Brazil, like Italy, like France they are all teams who normally come to the Finals, have a reputation. Then we must be prepared for them. [England]. We have to respect England. Because they have the same chance as what [we] have."
12.22pm BST
Just so we're clear, the Italian national anthem is the best. And they do the best food. And they've got Pirlo. Rule Italia!
12.11pm BST
Come on guys! Guys?
12.10pm BST
Simon Burnton has got some of your favourite crooners to review the national anthems. Which reminds me of this awesome tweet from Richard Keys before the Honduras game on Saturday: "I'm afraid the guys still don't seem to know the words of the National anthem. Shame. Loud and proud guys. Come on."
Guys!
12.06pm BST
If there's one place the Brazil squad won't have expected a hostile reaction, it's Brazil. But that's what they got from protestors when they arrived for training. Speaking exclusively from Kings Cross, I can reveal that from afar it looks like an extremely odd atmosphere there. A lot of Brazilians don't have World Cup Fever, they've got Where's All The Money For Schools And Hospitals Gone Fever instead.
12.03pm BST
Lunchtime reading: Sid Lowe's interview with Luis Suarez. Does anyone else think he's not going to be up to speed after knee surgery?
11.52am BST
"I remember the 1990 World Cup with much happiness," beams Mark Judd. "My wife went into labour on the morning of the 23rd June, off I drove to the hospital, stopping at the newsagent on the way for me to buy The Guardian ( it could be a long day I thought), and at 15.28 we had the most beautiful daughter. Within an hour of the birth my daughter and I were watching Cameroon v Colombia in the delivery suite while my wife rested in another room. Happy times."
11.36am BST
State of the England squad four years ago. Look at it!
Goalkeepers: Joe Hart, David James, Robert Green.
11.32am BST
England are going to train at 3pm this afternoon. Look, I've got proof and everything.
Heading to @england training ground Urca ahead of first training session in Brazil today. Players to visit local community project later.
11.29am BST
Karim Benzema played on the left for France last night, with Olivier Giroud in the middle, and he didn't mind one bit. After all, they did win 8-0. "I haven't played on the left for a long time now, it's not my preferred position," Benzema said. "I tried to move around a lot and I dropped deep a bit more. It worked. We combined well, especially in the second half. We have to keep it going." And Yohan Cabaye was also impressed. "It worked well up front. Olivier was playing more as a target man with Karim moving around him and playing with more freedom," he said. "With Olivier and Karim, you just need to give them good service." I don't think France have enough to go all the way, but they'll be a threat if they click.
11.21am BST
The latest Football Weekly is up, previewing groups E to H. I wasn't invited to be on. Would have said no anyway. Don't care. No hard feelings. None at all.
11.14am BST
Everyone likes Andrea Pirlo. But now I want to buy a Jeep.
11.10am BST
Another injury. This time it's Colombia, who have lost Aldo Ramirez. The midfielder has been replaced by Carlos Carbonero.
11.08am BST
Want another video? Here's another video, this time a lovely four-part interactive on the history of the Brazilian team. Of course, I should point out that Brazil 1970 were the most overrated side of all time, as these clips demonstrate.
10.58am BST
Who remembers the 1990 World Cup? Not me, I was 3, so luckily we've got this video on it.
10.56am BST
Fun and games with the Brazilian police.
São Paulo metro strike continues today, defying court order. @elizondogabriel reports police using tear gas to disperse striking workers
10.48am BST
Hyundai has become the latest sponsor to voice concerns over the corruption allegations against Fifa: "We are confident that FIFA is taking these allegations seriously and that the Investigatory Chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee will conduct a thorough investigation." Is that satire?
10.45am BST
"I was also a bit disappointed to see Reus injured, since he really is fantastic to watch," says Drew Gough. "But Germany seemed to improve once they found a dedicated striker in that friendly with Armenia. Klose is a million, yeah, but he found the net, broke Muller's all-time record for goals for Germany, and seemed to inspire Germany to play direct. Is there a precedent for stars being injured and the team becoming more cohesive? (France look likelier too now that Ribery is out.)"
David Beckham in 2002, Wayne Rooney in 2006, Wayne Rooney in 2010.
10.43am BST
Mark Bresciano says he is ready to play through the pain of his back injury. I'm feeling better about picking Australia in the sweepstake now. "I'm okay - I'm right to go," he said. "If you want to talk about the injury, it's basically pain. If I can tolerate the pain I'm okay, and it's got to a stage where I can tolerate it. I've had this injury before and bounced back good. It's not something impossible to do. So hopefully I can start and stay on for 90 minutes."
Australia are going to win the World Cup.
10.37am BST
There's that famous Dutch team spirit. This isn't going to end well, is it?
10.28am BST
"West Germany in 1954 and 1990," says Harry Tuttle, trying to come up with dark horses. "And maybe Italy in 1982 and 2006?"
They don't classify as dark horses.
10.27am BST
Apparently this is a statue of Mario Balotelli on the Copacabana. I don't see much of a likeness. And is that The Pope and Michael Jackson alongside him? Are they in the Italy squad too? England have this in the bag.
10.25am BST
Apparently Manuel Neuer is back in training for Germany. I didn't know he was out of training. Huh. It's not been a good few days for the Germans, though, with Marco Reus ruled out with an ankle injury. He was their best attacker. A lot of people have been picking Germany out, but I'm not sure - their defence is ropey and can Klose do it again?
10.23am BST
"Speaking of office sweepstakes, I've got Chile in the office sweepstakes, Holland in the departmental one and Argentina in the sub-departmental one," says Sahil Kher. "Apart from the sobering realisation that my office sounds Kafkaesque, I reckon I may make some money this time. My colleague with his picks of Brazil, Iran and England is feeling surprisingly positive though. Who would you reckon has the better chance of success?"
I think Chile will knock Holland out in the first round. You heard it here first (and possibly last).
10.13am BST
Here's the latest in our stunning World Cup moments. Simon Burnton has written it on Gordon Banks's dodgy stomach in 1970. Poor Peter Bonetti, the hapless fall-guy as a result of Banks's foolhardy decision to have a doner kebab from the fast food place next to the team hotel the night before England played West Germany*.
*Legal disclaimer: this may not have happened.
10.06am BST
For all the chatter about dark horses, have you noticed that the World Cup is never won by an outsider? Unlucky, Belgium! Do one, Colombia!
10.00am BST
"Is this the least excited this country has ever been about Englands chances at a World Cup?" says Peter Rasmussen. "There is no hype from the broadsheets, no expectations from anyone, fans are queuing up to moan about how rubbish the team is etc etc. Surely you are going to win the tournament now?"
Here's what England aren't going to do: win the tournament. But that doesn't mean they can't have some fun along the way, especially if the likes of Raheem Sterling and Ross Barkley are let off the leash. I think most people are realistic enough to realise that England aren't going to win the World Cup but they're far more likeable than they were during the Golden Generation era, so as long as they try their best and maybe play some engaging football, supporters will be satisfied. What's the point getting annoyed? Chillax, have a mojito.
9.51am BST
It's still not Thursday. Who do we talk to in order to get this sorted out?
9.48am BST
Can you beat my World Cup dream team? Nope, no one can*.
*Legal disclaimer: lots of people can, have and will.
9.38am BST
Has the football started yet? Has anyone got any football for me to watch? There's not a lot going on at the moment. I'm just filling a void. We've all got to fill the air for the next three days, right up until Brazil kick things off against Croatia on Thursday night. What shall we talk about? How about this headscratcher -
can Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard play in the same midfield
should Wayne Rooney be dropped by England against Italy, who incidentally beat Fluminese 5-3 in a friendly last night. 5-3! Five goals is pretty impressive, although letting in three up the other end isn't too clever by the sounds of it. Whatever happened to Italian defending? Couldn't tell you actually, I was watching Fargo.
9.30am BST
France beat Jamaica 8-0 last night. Who needs Franck Ribery? Or Samir Nasri?
9.25am BST
So, England's preparations are going well. Gary Neville has had a row with a journalist during a soothing walk on the beach, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is injured, Raheem Sterling got sent off against Ecuador and there was a biblical storm during Saturday's draw with Honduras. Only England could go to Florida for warm-weather training and have to train inside on the first day because of the rain.
9.19am BST
Look at our shiny YouTube channel. Oooo! Ahhhh! You can't say we don't treat you. Well, I suppose you could, but you'd be lying and I'm not calling the fire brigade to get them to douse your trousers, I'm too busy with this blog.
9.09am BST
To be perfectly honest, I lost all interest in this World Cup the moment I got Australia in the office sweepstake. They're not even going to score a goal.
8.59am BST
Morning! The week leading up to a World Cup is a strange time to be alive. It does odd things to people, but invariably it's better than the tournament itself: the special supplements, the wall charts, the countdown programmes featuring some celebrity you've never heard of trying to do comedy about that Zaire player scoring the Hand of God goal against England while doing a Cruyff turn and headbutting Marco Materazzi, the metatarsal experts, the witch doctors casting spells on star players, the Guardian live blogs that start three days too early all of it adds to the wonder that is the WORLD CUP!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE WORLD CUP!!!!!!!!!!! IN BRAZIL!!!!!!!!!!! THREE DAYS AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!! GET EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WORLD CUP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Then comes the opening ceremony, which never makes any sense, then the first game and soon you're glued to your sofa, watching Mexico 0-0 Cameroon, eating your El ham lahlou, wondering what all the fuss was about, vowing never to watch another football match again.
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