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When they picture a messiah, few perhaps imagine a mild-mannered 51-year-old with a greying beard who used to play at left-back for York City. Certainly Chelsea and West Ham fans don’t. But the degree to which Graham Potter is loved in Sweden has to be seen to be believed. He was a down-on-his-luck manager seeking a new start; they were a country who didn’t win a single game in World Cup qualifying. And somehow they were perfect for each other. By the standards of what Potter has achieved over the past nine months, a comfortable win over a self-destructive Tunisia barely registers, but it is the continuation of a remarkable process of renewal.Sweden were awful in qualifying. They had a lot of injuries, it’s true, but two defeats to both Switzerland and Kosovo and two draws against Slovenia are not usually a route to the World Cup. Jon Dahl Tomasson was sacked as coach and Potter brought in. Sweden’s Nations League performances offered a repechage chance in the play-offs, and they took full advantage, beating Ukraine and Poland to secure their place at the finals. Potter described the latter victory, secured with an 89th-minute Viktor Gyökeres goal, as his best night in football. Sunday night was part of his reward.The clouds sat low over the Sierra Madre, infusing the atmosphere with an oppressive dampness. It was 27C at kick-off and sticky, and probably deeply unpleasant to play in. The hydration breaks for once were probably justified, but it’s indicative of how they’ve become emblematic of Fifa’s greed that they were booed by a substantial proportion of fans. They were, though, soon placated by an exuberantly mustachioed man in a Stetson playing a jaunty accordion, so nobody perhaps should expect the revolution just yet.Tunisia are also no longer led by the coach with whom they began qualifying. Or indeed the coach who ended qualifying. Or any of the three in between. Disappointment at underwhelming performances in the Arab Cup and the Africa Cup of Nations led to Sami Trabelsi being replaced as Tunisia manager by Sabri Lamouchi, once of Nottingham Forest and Cardiff City. He made significant changes, calling up 11 players who had not been involved in Morocco in December and January. Of those, five made the starting line-up.One was the goalkeeper Abdelmouhib Chamakh, who bore substantial responsibility for Sweden’s first two goals. Six minutes in, he was tentative in coming out to deal with Viktor Lindelöf’s ball over the top and patted the ball tamely down. Gyökeres seized on it and, when his shot was blocked, it rebounded to Brighton’s Yasin Ayari who smashed it back past Chamakh. Ayari was born in Stockholm to a Tunisian father, who encouraged him to hold out for a Sweden call up when Tunisia tried to select him in 2021.The Club Africain keeper was even more at fault for the second, which came on the half hour. Gyökeres was again instrumental, receiving the ball in the centre-circle as Sweden broke, and turning it round the corner for Alexander Isak who cut inside and struck a low shot goalwards. It wasn’t the most ferocious strike but the ball skidded through the arms of Chamakh. He may have been partially unsighted, but the way he dropped his head suggested he knew what a mess he’d made of what should have been a routine save.Lamouchi does seem to have tackled the chronic fear that has undermined Tunisian football for decades. Perhaps the fact they went behind so early had something to do with it, but they did not seek to kill play from the off, spoiling and wasting time. There was some creative endeavour, an actual attempt to play the game. Given how things panned out, that may have been a mistake.It was, at least, one of Lamouchi’s selection who offered some sign of resistance shortly before the break, Omar Rekik glancing in Hannibal Mejbri’s right-wing cross. For quarter of an hour at the beginning of the second half, it seemed possible Tunisia might come back into it. But their implosion had another chapter left to be told. Ellyes Skhiri demanded the ball from Chamakh and decided, inexplicably, to wander towards Isak. The Liverpool forward tackled him and the ball broke to Gyökeres, who capped an influential night with an emphatic finish. An unmarked Mattias Svanberg swept in another moments after coming off the bench as a feather of a touch from Isak played him onside, and Ayari thumped his second of the night to make it five in injury-time.There had been a sense in the 3-2 play-off win over Poland that Sweden’s goals had not really had much to do with the play but had just sort of materialised. Here, at least, it was obvious where they came from: Tunisian errors. At some point they might have to create a goal by themselves but, for now, they’re just enjoying the improbable bonus of being at the World Cup. Six months ago, it really didn’t seem plausible. The Potter miracle goes on.

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The midfielder on providing the balance to allow attacking stars to shine and wanting a fitting World Cup sign-off for DeschampsFrance will look a little different this summer. “Naturally, it seems a bit more attacking than usual,” Adrien Rabiot says. “I think it is good because we have the players for it.” Lucas Hernández adds that France have “the best attack in the world” and Rayan Cherki talks about “crushing” opponents at the World Cup.Rabiot says: “I think that we have one of the most well-equipped teams in an attacking sense. We have real threats from the start but also from the bench and that is very important in a World Cup … it is great to have all of this quality.” If France seem more attacking, it is because they are.In his final tournament as Les Bleus’ manager, Didier Deschamps has taken nine forwards, including a new “Fab Four” consisting of the captain, Kylian Mbappé, Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé, the mercurial Michael Olise and the silky Cherki. Add to that Désiré Doué, Bradley Barcola, Maghnes Akliouche, Jean-Philippe Mateta and Marcus Thuram, and you have an unrivalled attacking armada. The aim, in Deschamps’ words, is to be “less predictable, less readable”.But beware. Arsène Wenger says that “the danger is becoming a bit offensively unbalanced”. Rabiot shares the former Arsenal manager’s sentiment and expects to play his part in being part of the solution. “I have spoken with the manager and my role on the pitch with France is different to that which I have at Milan [where he is a box-to-box player]. At this level, balance plays a big part.”Rabiot’s task is primarily to allow others to shine rather than stealing the limelight himself. “We all have a role. You have to be humble about that,” he says. “I try to do my work as well as possible to allow the players in front and behind to perform as well as possible … attackers and goalscorers are valued more than midfielders or defenders. There is no problem about that.”It is a role that N’Golo Kanté is accustomed to playing, not that it has stopped him from earning plaudits. “There are players who play an important role but who are maybe promoted less. That’s the case for N’Golo. He gives everything when he’s on the pitch. Even if he isn’t always the best player, he is someone who has that desire, that determination to give everything.”At 35, Kanté is now rarely a starter, but that doesn’t prevent him from being “a very important player in the team”, according to Rabiot. The ground covered by the former Chelsea and Leicester midfielder once allowed attackers to be absolved of defensive duties. Football has changed. “Nowadays, it can’t just be nine or 10 players defending. You need everyone. You’ve seen it recently in the Champions League. Those that make the effort, all together, go furthest. We need a whole team that knows how to attack and knows how to defend. That’s modern football. You have to recognise that,” says Rabiot.The Milan midfielder, capped 59 times for his country, speaks more of “accompanying” the attackers, “providing a link between the attack and defence”, allowing them to “express themselves” and giving them “freedom”; a facilitator more than simply a compensator, the difference is subtle but important. If Deschamps has released the handbrake, Rabiot is there to keep control of the car.And Rabiot has discerned a shift. “In training, there is this freshness, this technique, this enthusiasm,” he says. Its importance transcends the pitch: “What makes this squad work well is the ability to be able to express oneself. Everyone has free rein to [show] their talent. In training, we really have a great time together, and that is the most important thing in a long competition.”France’s stay at their base in Boston is not expected to be a short one. Les Bleus have been to the past two finals. Rabiot, 31, missed out in 2018, but was involved in the defeat against Argentina in Qatar in 2022. “Since then, we have wanted revenge,” he says.Rabiot adds that victory in North America would also be “a beautiful homage” to Deschamps, who will leave his post at the end of the tournament. He is “very close” to Deschamps, despite his omission from the 2018 World Cup squad. Rabiot was selected as a reserve for the tournament in Russia but refused the position.It would be more than two years until his next call-up, but since his return in September 2020, he has been an ever-present; of the players in the current squad, only Mbappé and Kanté have played more matches during Deschamps’ reign. Even when Rabiot was cast out at Marseille at the start of the season after a dressing-room incident with his teammate Jonathan Rowe, he was still selected. “I’m taking him for who he is, what he has done with us and what he can bring us. It is always good for him to be with us,” Deschamps said.“The manager has given us a lot,” Rabiot says. “For the most part, he has selected us often; he has shown confidence in us in the big competitions – it is obviously an objective for us to pay him back for that.”In the Guardian’s recent interview with Deschamps, the France manager expressed a lack of interest in notions of “legacy” and perception as he heads into his swan song. It is a topic of greater concern to Rabiot. “You always want to finish on a good note; it is the image that you leave that lingers longest in the mind.“I think, in France, people don’t realise what the France national team has achieved in these past few years. I think people abroad are more admiring, quite simply because they want it to happen to them.“And I think that if they had a manager like Deschamps, who has had as many results as he has, they would be extremely happy. I don’t think you should get used to [the levels of success] because it isn’t normal … sometimes we have highlighted how things happened too much instead of looking at what actually happened.”Substance over style: that defines the Deschamps era. Rabiot, one of his most tried and trusted, embodies that too. Leave the style to the attackers, Rabiot is simply there to facilitate it.

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Bielsa unruffled but Giménez says situation was ‘difficult’Initial flight from Mexico cancelled and second delayedUruguay’s preparations for their opening World Cup game against Saudi Arabia were severely disrupted after their flight from Mexico was hit by multiple delays.Marcelo Bielsa’s squad had been due to fly from Cancún to Fort Lauderdale early on Sunday afternoon, but paperwork issues relating to the plane led to their initial flight being cancelled.A second plane was then commissioned to take Uruguay to South Florida, but that flight was also delayed and they eventually arrived for the pre-match press conference at Miami Stadium several hours late.An unusually taciturn Bielsa played down the impact of the delay on his players, who undertook most of their preparations at a two-week training camp in Montevideo before spending the last week in Mexico. “The flight caused no problems,” Bielsa said.The Uruguay captain, José María Giménez, was more frank in describing the delays as “difficult”, while others at the Uruguayan Football Association (AUF) were less diplomatic.“We had some complications,” the Atlético Madrid defender said. “It was difficult, but we took advantage by resting at the hotel. And we just got here later.”The delays were caused by the paperwork required to begin the flight not being ready by the scheduled time of take-off. Asked if Fifa was ultimately responsible for the delays, an AUF spokesperson agreed.In a statement released after the first delay, the AUF said: “Due to problems beyond the control of the AUF, the departure from Mexico has been delayed. The squad is resting at the hotel. The new departure time set by Fifa is 4.15pm.”AUF officials later emphasised their unhappiness by posting a message on their X account originally sent by the former Uruguay striker Diego Forlán’s in 2010, in which he bemoaned the fact that the national team’s charter flight had been delayed an hour one day before their first World Cup game in South Africa. “Who is to blame???” Forlán wrote, followed by “Arriba Uruguay!!”Uruguay’s travel chaos is the latest example of the issues caused by Fifa’s decision to stage the World Cup in three separate countries for the first time, which has caused problems for several competing teams.Iran have been unable to obtain visas for many of their backroom team to enter the United States from their training camp in Mexico, while Ghana midfield player Thomas Partey was denied a visa by the Canadian government due to his arrest on rape charges in the United Kingdom, which will prevent him playing in their opening game against Panama in Toronto.Uruguay have been based in the Mexican coastal resort of Playa del Carmen for their World Cup buildup where they trained earlier in the day before heading to Cancún international airport, where their problems began.Bielsa is leading Uruguay at a World Cup for the first time having previously taken charge of his native Argentina in 2002 and Chile eight years later, but despite his vast experience the coach’s three-year reign has not run smoothly.The 70-year-old was facing calls to resign last November following a humiliating 5-1 friendly defeat to the United States, which led him to publicly question the attitude of his players, but he refused to quit.Two draws against England and Algeria calmed nerves in March, but Uruguay have not played since, with Bielsa taking the unusual decision not to sanction any pre-tournament friendlies.Uruguay will have the considerable support of about 10,000 fans in the US, many of whom have been highly visible in Miami over the past few days, with most of their hopes pinned on talismanic midfielder Federico Valverde. The Real Madrid captain endured a difficult club season, but for Uruguay he is likely to be pivotal.“From the moment he became a part of our team the influence of his game was seen,” Bielsa said. “He is so resourceful. The way he helps us play is no secret. We try to have possession of the ball, we try to go forward, we try to attack. We are facing a good team who will not be easy opponents.”Saudi Arabia have also endured a troubled buildup to the tournament, although not in the last 24 hours, and remarkably their manager, George Donis, will be leading the team for the first time in a competitive match on Monday.The former Greece international, who spent four years in England with Blackburn, Huddersfield and Sheffield United at the end of a playing career largely spent at Panathinaikos, was parachuted into the job in April after the sudden dismissal of Frenchman Hervé Renard, who led Saudi Arabia at the 2022 World Cup that began with their victory over eventual champions Argentina.Donis has coached at four Saudi Pro League clubs so knows the players well, which seems to be why he got the job, and his priority will be to avoid embarrassment in a group that also includes Spain and Cape Verde.Representatives of the Saudi Football Federation are here in force as they look ahead to hosting the tournament in 2034, and while Mohammed bin Salman is not believed to have travelled after attending matches at the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, the crown prince is likely to be monitoring matches closely.Saudi Arabia have not kept a clean sheet for eight games however, and scored only seven goals in their 10 qualifying matches, with Donis making no attempt to hide the scale of his challenge.“I feel our group is one of the toughest of the World Cup,” he said. “I’ve been training the team for 12 sessions in total. “The days were not enough, and everything happened so fast. “There’s a disadvantage in place. It’s not been long since we started training together, but the players have shown I can trust them. I believe in them and believe we will be very competitive. Regardless of what will happen in this tournament I’m building a team that will deliver success. I’m looking at the trees, not the forest.”Rather than the shock victory over Argentina, which was followed by defeats to Poland and Mexico and elimination at the group stage, Donis wants his players to seek inspiration from Saudi Arabia’s last tournament in the United States at the 1994 World Cup, when victories over Belgium and Morocco took them into the last 16 for the first and only time.“I’m very grateful to Saudi Arabia and consider it my second home,” he said. “Given I’ve been in Saudi Arabia for many years I’m aware of the history of football there. The best moment is undoubtedly when we made it to the round of 16, beating Belgium and Morocco.“It’s important the players draw inspiration from this achievement. The victory over Argentina shows that the current generation have drawn inspiration from the past, and we want to do the same.”

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Midfielder expects Madrid man to have major impactHenderson: ‘He’s a huge player for us in this tournament’Jordan Henderson says Jude Bellingham is loved by his teammates and will be England’s X-factor at the World Cup.Bellingham, who is vying with Morgan Rogers to start at No 10 against Croatia on Wednesday, has been the subject of plenty of debate at international level during the past two years. There has been speculation about the Real Madrid star’s relationship with Thomas Tuchel, but Henderson is close with the midfielder and insists there is no issue with his attitude.“I’m sure he will have a big impact for us in this tournament,” Henderson said. “I can remember five years ago I gave him his first cap, it was away at Middlesbrough. How much he’s grown, as a player and as a person since then, is incredible really. I had a good idea when I first saw him playing and training, and the way he was.“I think everybody forgets how young he is. We do rondos and it’s the youngest in, and there’s people that I think should be going in before him, but he’s always one of the first in the middle to go in. It just reminds us how young he is. I honestly couldn’t speak highly enough of him.“I know a lot gets written in the media and I really find it hard to read sometimes because I just know how big an influence he is on this team, how good a teammate he is off the field. And what he gives us is just something really special, he really gives us the X-factor in our team. He’s had big moments in his career, he’s a big game player, he’s got experience in tournaments, so he’s a huge, huge player for us in this tournament.”Henderson insisted that external perceptions of Bellingham as a divisive influence are inaccurate. Bellingham was praised for looking after Alex Scott, Ethan Nwaneri, Rio Ngumoha and Josh King when the youngsters were part of England’s pre-tournament training camp.“If you ask any player in the group, they’ll tell you how much of a good teammate he is, how well he trains,” Henderson said. I know he’s young but he’s very mature. He helps young players, new players, that are coming in. How he was in the pre-camp with Rio, Josh King, Alex Scott, Ethan, how he is with those players, nobody sees that, but they all look up to him.“He gave Rio his first cap after the game, which just gives you a little insight into what he is like behind the scenes. I do think a lot of the media and the stuff that gets written isn’t all true to be honest, or a lot of it is actually untrue. But for us we all know what he can do, and how much we all love him inside the camp, and I suppose that’s the main thing.”Henderson addressed the battle between Bellingham and Rogers to start. “It doesn’t mater if you’re starting or coming on, everyone has a role,” he said. “I see it as two top players who I wouldn’t want to be playing against – so good on and off the ball, athletic and physical, can score and have it in their locker to produce big moments. They’re very close and will support each other 100%. They’ve both got a big role to play.”

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Goalscorer Connor Metcalfe ‘pretty knackered’ after late-night flightSocceroos back in Oakland to continue preparations for US gameSocceroos goalscorer Connor Metcalfe admitted he hadn’t had the greatest sleep since Australia’s opening World Cup victory over Turkey.“It’s crazy to score, to get the win. I mean, you couldn’t ask for a better start, could you?” he said, speaking back at the team’s training base in Oakland barely 22 hours after the historic scenes in Vancouver.“The amount of messages I’ve received, the fact that my family, my loved ones, could be there was super special, so [it is] a memory I’ll never forget.”The day after their victory, Socceroos players were still recovering, physically and emotionally, from an arduous evening and a full night of travel.The Socceroos bussed out of BC Place after midnight, straight to Vancouver airport for their flight back to Oakland after 2am. They did not get back to their rooms to sleep until 5am.“The game was pretty late in general and usually after games I struggle to sleep,” said Metcalfe. “It’s pretty unusual to fly straight back, especially being so late, but it’s probably better to get back as soon as possible.”The Socceroos already have one eye on the mouthwatering clash against tournament co-hosts the United States on Friday in Seattle (Saturday AEST). But for now, the focus is on recovery.“[I had] about four or five hours of sleep, I’m just pretty knackered to be honest, I need a good day off tomorrow and then get back into it,” Metcalfe said.His 75th-minute strike secured arguably the Socceroos’ greatest World Cup victory, against an opponent many had described as dark horses before the tournament.They did so with a starting line-up with an average age of 24. Defender Cam Burgess, at 30, was the oldest, after he was preferred to Lucas Herrington on the left side of the central defenders.Behind him was 22-year-old Patrick Beach in goal. Jordy Bos, 23, was to his left, Paul Okon-Engstler, 21, played ahead of him in midfield and 20-year-old Nestory Irankunda, who scored the opener, was on the left wing.“There’s nothing they really need to lean on me for,” Burgess said. “Obviously I might have to do that and I believe that’s a big part of my role in the team, to be the experienced one and to calm things down at times and just be a voice as well.“But those guys are on a good trajectory in their careers, and I think they showed last night what they can do.”At training on Sunday afternoon in Oakland (Monday morning AEST), Aiden O’Neill walked around the ground, as the starters ran light laps. He was described as “a little bit sore” by Metcalfe. The remainder of the squad played small sides games.O’Neill and Metcalfe were the only players – apart from the central defenders and Beach – who were not substituted.“Probably the last 15 minutes, I was looking over at the bench waiting for a sub, but I stuck out there and just had to dig deep,” he said.Recovery for the Socceroos this week will also be mental, but Burgess believes the group is sufficiently grounded to not get ahead of themselves.“It’s, I guess, the Aussie way, and it’s just instilled in us to take it one game at a time and enjoy the moment with your friends and family and teammates and just focus on the next [game] and work hard and go again.”Burgess was born in Scotland but spent his teens in Perth. He represented the country of his birth at junior levels, before committing to Australia in 2014.Alongside Harry Souttar – another Aberdeen-born Socceroo – Burgess watched Scotland’s first-up victory over Haiti, their first win at a World Cup in 36 years. Souttar’s brother John was on the bench for Scotland.Despite the emotion around Scotland’s World Cup return, Burgess said he had no regrets about committing to Australia.“I’m more than happy where I’m at right now,” he said. “What’s just gone on in the last 24 hours has been some of the best moments of my career so far and I just can’t wait to hopefully go out there and do it again.”

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Ghalenoi hopes disruption does not impact his teamThe Iran striker Mehdi Taremi has said the controversy and disruption surrounding their involvement at the World Cup undermines Fifa’s message of peace and conceded he felt the tension before arriving in Los Angeles on the eve of their opener, hours before a peace deal was announced. For the first time since the competition’s inception, a host nation has received a country with which it is at war.On Sunday Iran flew to LA from Tijuana, Mexico, where they were relocated amid an ongoing row over visas, but are expected to face opposition from Iranians, many of whom believe the national team do not represent the country. Iran has been beset by problems in the buildup to the tournament, with several officials denied entry to the US.“This kind of tension undermines that joy and it undermines the message of Fifa and our people, which is about football and bringing about peace,” said the Olympiakos forward Taremi. “I think this World Cup could have provided a better atmosphere than it has and I hope in the future it will be better for all fans, whoever they are supporting.“It’s not just Iran that has been impacted, others have been impacted, including referees [the Somali official Omar Artan was denied entry]. I have felt the tension from the first moment we arrived at this World Cup. Of course, we don’t have the same beautiful experience we usually talk about – peace and joy. I know several countries had visa problems and changing of training camps. The tension exists – it did before the World Cup even started. The feeling, the sensation people always have looking forward to a World Cup, I think this time they hadn’t had the same feeling.”Taremi and his teammates touched down in LA after their plane’s second attempt at landing. On arrival at their team hotel in Manhattan Beach, they were greeted by some Iranian protestors, most of whom are part of the 375,000-strong Iranian population in California, the largest outside of Iran, as well as a heavy police and security presence, including drones, mobile surveillance and sniffer dogs. A western area of LA centred on Westwood is nicknamed “Tehrangeles” owing to the huge Iranian diaspora. “Iran will be playing as locals in Los Angeles, in spite of it all,” said Iran’s head coach, Amir Ghalenoi.About 35,000 Iran supporters are expected for their Group G opener against New Zealand and several are expected to protest against the team before the game. “We are here to play football and we are here to represent the respectful people of Iran, be it the Iranians inside of Iran or the diaspora,” said Ghalenoi. “We are only thinking about our country. We’re not political people and the slogan of Fifa is this, that football is separate from politics. We respect each and every one of the Iranians.”Ghalenoi conceded the convoluted travel has impacted their preparations. “We were supposed to start training earlier, but, look, we arrived late and we didn’t have enough time to adjust, of course that will affect us,” he said. “I know my players are determined to do their utmost. I hope the World Cup will go well despite the travel problems we’ve had … I hope it will not affect the quality of our play.”Iran reportedly passed through customs without issue but arrived about 20 minutes late for their pre-match press conference at So-Fi Stadium. “It wasn’t our fault,” Taremi said. “The players of the national team play for every Iranian … People have different opinions but we are here as footballers to unite people and we will try to bring joy to all Iranians, irrespective of where they live. Everyone can have their own opinion. We are not here to get involved in politics, we are here to play football.”Ghalenoi was also asked about the absence of Sardar Azmoun amid reports of a perceived act of disloyalty to the government. Azmoun, who plays in the United Arab Emirates, is reported to have angered his government by posting a photo of himself with the UAE ruler Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum. Facilities in the UAE have been attacked by Iran during the conflict. “Serdar Azmoun is an excellent player and has done a lot for the national team, but he is not with us and we wish he was, but this is football, sorry,” Ghalenoi said.An issue facing Fifa is the possibility of supporters bringing flags displaying the country’s historical flag, featuring a lion and a sun, from before the Islamic revolution. The flag is banned from stadiums at the World Cup. A Fifa official shut down a question relating to the flag, saying it was not relevant to the game.

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The substitute Amad Diallo struck in the 90th minute to give Côte d’Ivoire a 1-0 win over Ecuador in their ⁠Group E opener.Diallo’s first-time strike of Wilfried Singo’s cross gave the Ivorians their first World Cup victory over South American opposition and ⁠halted Ecuador’s unbeaten run ​at 19 matches.It also put a bow on a 19-year-old Yan Diomande’s dazzling performance as the Elephants pulled level on points with a Germany side ⁠that thumped Curacao 7-1 in their opener earlier in the day.The promising Ivorians – who have the youngest squad at this World Cup – looked to be running out of ideas ⁠before Singo found space surging up the right from his defensive post. His cross reached Diallo in stride, ​with the 23-year-old Manchester United player deftly guiding ‌it into the bottom left ‌corner to give the West Africans a dream start ‌to their first World Cup finals appearance since 2014.Ecuador’s best first-half chances came from Côte d’Ivoire’s casual defending. John Yeboah and Alan Minda struck the bar in the 23rd and 30th minutes, respectively.But it was Côte d’Ivoire who looked better in possession, with Diomande terrorizing Ecuador’s left side. In the 35th minute, he picked up the ball at midfield, beat Piero Hincapié down the line ‌and dragged a cross into the path of Nicolas Pépé’s late run to the penalty spot. Pépé tried to sneak a second touch to get on ​his favoured left foot, seeing his effort ultimately blocked.In first-half stoppage time, Singo nearly turned a spectacular bicycle kick on frame from Guéla Doué’s cross.Côte d’Ivoire started well after the break, but in the 68th minute, a well-struck effort from Ecuador’s Gonzalo Plata forced Yahia Fofana into a comfortable save.Before that, it ⁠was more of Diomande. In the 52nd minute, his cross met Elye Wahi’s ​angling run, but Wahi’s first-time ​strike skimmed the crossbar. And moments after ​switching to the left flank following two Côte d’Ivoire changes in the 56th ​minute, he dribbled between Yeboah, ‌Alan Franco and ​Moises Caicedo on his ​way into the box before firing high.In a match played within driving distance of more than 600,000 Ecuadorian Americans estimated to live in New York and New Jersey, La Tricolor fans dominated the atmosphere but left disappointed.

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The World Cup continues to produce the unexpected. On a throbbingly hot afternoon in the low flat plains outside Dallas the Netherlands and Japan played out a high-grade, ultimately thrilling Group F game, Daichi Kamada scoring an 89th-minute equaliser to make it 2-2 just as the Dutch looked like taking an early hold on one of the tougher groups.Sport does love to spring surprises. As the entire bib-clad Japanese bench emptied on to the pitch to celebrate Kamada’s deflected goal, as the Japan fans writhed and roared and fell over themselves in the stands, it was tempting to wonder if perhaps the unthinkable is happening.There has been so much talk of tired players, format collapse and empty seats (the stadium was full here), a note of disaster-ism so committed you wondered at times if it was necessary to play the games at all. But football remains a strangely unbreakable product, no matter how energetically you might try.There is a reason this thing stands unchallenged as both the world’s most gripping spectator sport and its most reliable macro-distraction, the dictator’s Neuralyzer box, there to erase all those unhappy feelings with a single flash of blinding light. And it does feel as though something else has been taking place across a spunky opening week. Maybe – whisper it – the World Cup is actually good.This was a lovely spectacle from the start. The Dallas Stadium is a vast concrete spaceship dumped down off the freeway beyond the city limits. Inside, the swooping panelled glass roof gives it the feel of an outsized Victorian railway station, or a vast and humid mega-greenhouse, the kind of place a giant would grow his tomatoes.At kick-off the base colours were beautiful, warm royal blue versus deep zingy classic orange. Japan have been an excellent World Cup team in recent times. It felt significant afterwards that their coach, Hajime Moriyasu, was asked about his evident disappointment at only taking what he still described as a “very meaningful point”.“The Netherlands are a top-class international team,” he said. “Look at the Fifa rankings, there’s quite a difference. But we can look back at today’s match and learn from the Dutch and enhance our power.”Here Japan set up with attacking midfielders in the wing-back spots and the defensive three Moriyasu has tended to use since Qatar. Ronald Koeman had hinted that Memphis Depay might be fit, but Donyell Malen started in the centre of attack.And the Netherlands took the ball away early on. They really should have scored on three minutes as Malen produced a grappling turn and a powerful shot that was palmed away by Zion Suzuki. After that the game became a series of wary thrusts in between a steady holding pattern of carefully metered Dutch possession.Japan had some neat, high-pressing flurries. Frenkie de Jong was measured and stately on the ball, a footballer who always seems to be playing inside his own demilitarised zone.The hydration break arrived just as the game seemed as if it might start to congeal, although the day was enlivened at that point by the sudden appearance of the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders on what is reportedly the world’s largest HD screen, the kind of spectacle the human brain struggles to process, literally a 150ft woman dancing with a pompon.The Dutch began to press. With 34 minutes gone Malen saw a close-in header direct from a corner batted away at ankle level by Suzuki. Japan had their own best chance just before half-time, a nice combination down the right leading to a cross and shot just wide from Keito Nakamura. But at the break the Dutch were on 67% possession with twice as many passes, controlling the tempo and geometry of the game.They took the lead five minutes into the second half, Virgil van Dijk producing a finely angled header that bounced in off the far post. At that point Japan looked flat, unable to sustain possession, trapped in their own half. But they found an immediate injection of urgency on the left flank, and it was from there that the equaliser came six minutes later. A smart fizzed combination of passes ended with Nakamura whipping a right-foot shot into the corner via a fine deflection off Jan Paul van Hecke.The second hydration break took away Japan’s momentum. Given the stadium is air conditioned there was clearly no need for it, beyond the fact this is now advertising protocol. How much hydration does anyone need? How much money does football need? Here a cynical and unnecessary piece of tinkering materially shifted the flow of the game, purely so that someone could try to sell you some crisps.The Netherlands surged back, finding pockets of space between the lines as Japan struggled to re-condense. Crysencio Summerville made it 2-1 on 64 minutes, taking the ball from Ryan Gravenberch, gliding inside and curling a lovely left-foot shot into the far corner.Japan responded as they had to the first goal, forming a discussion circle in their own half even as the Dutch players were celebrating. The end was high drama, the equaliser created by a whipped left-wing corner.Group F looks wide open, and surely destined for some kind of as-things-stand late drama come the final round of games. Plus Dallas has passed its own first test as a high-functioning soccer stadium. For those who prefer their World Cup a little more sullen and sedate: England are here next.

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The net rippled and Curaçao’s bench exploded in every conceivable ­direction, their giddiness underpinned by a lucid awareness of the goal’s place in history. Livano Comenencia had just equalised against Germany and an island of 158,000 inhabitants, represented here by an accomplished group born almost entirely in the Netherlands, could revel disbelievingly in a moment it had dreamed of.Reality eventually bit, Julian Nagelsmann’s side declaring on seven and easily avoiding an embarrassment that would have outdone their group-stage exits in the previous two World Cups. They will surely reach the knockouts this time and could have made absolutely certain by adding several more. Nagelsmann will be pleased that threats emanated from across the pitch, half a dozen different scorers bearing testament to that, but it should go without saying that more accurate tests of strength await. Kai Havertz, rounding things off neatly late on with his second goal, will hope to be similarly efficient later on.Half of Curaçao’s population could occupy the vast, sheer stands of Houston’s stadium. The challenge was for their team not to be dwarfed but the noise from their 7,000-strong “blue wave”, a number of whom had travelled from the island on a day trip, told its own story before kick-off. The fact of being here, celebrated exuberantly at a launch party near the city’s midtown the previous night, was enough for most. Progressing from a daunting Group E would be an even greater achievement than the improbable act of qualifying.When a marauding Deveron Fonville was checked abruptly by Aleksandar Pavlovic in the opening moments it was clear Dick Advocaat, breaking a record himself as the tournament’s oldest ever coach, had not sent Curaçao to stand on ceremony. He had picked three forwards but with that came a risk of exposure. Germany had already probed down the left before Felix Nmecha, keeping an attack alive after Jamal Musiala’s shot had been blocked, exchanged passes with Florian Wirtz and took aim. His first-time strike from 16 yards, firm and curling, left the keeper Eloy Room standing.The floodgates seemed sure to open. Nmecha was quickly emboldened to shoot again, missing the far post by inches, and then Leroy Sané danced inside only to scrape wide. Nmecha and Wirtz both had further efforts before Curaçao could cross the halfway line meaningfully.Yet Comenencia’s moment of magic did not come entirely as a surprise. Curaçao had warmed into the game, Leandro Bacuna lofting over and Tahith Chong exhibiting some tidy footwork, when a rapid attack down the right was only half dealt with by Nico Schlotterbeck. Jürgen Locadia, seizing on the loose ball, had a shot blocked but Comenencia was not to be denied. He cracked a low shot past Neuer via a slight deflection and wrote an indelible entry in World Cup lore.Curaçao were coursing with adrenaline and momentum. It was almost immediately halted by the now standard three-minute hydration break, apparently still necessary in a closed-roof arena cooled to around 22 degrees, and instead of football a pulsating crowd was distracted by a Mariachi band performance from a stage in one of the corners. Who and what, exactly, did that irrelevance serve?In fairness it took Germany another 17 minutes to profit. Room reacted smartly to tip over a Schlotterbeck header, Comenencia then blocking from Pavlovic and Fonville denying Sané a certain goal. Curaçao were living a charmed life but could not get away with leaving Schlotterbeck completely unmarked to glance Nathaniel Brown’s right-sided corner past a helpless Room.Nagelsmann, the subject of pre-match mischief from a potentially jobseeking Jürgen Klopp, celebrated in relief. His team kept pressing and had breathing space by half time. Nmecha, bursting forward from midfield at every opportunity, was tripped in the box by Riechedly Bazoer and Havertz rolled the penalty in nonchalantly just before the whistle.The contest had been great fun while it lasted. It was definitively over 68 seconds after the resumption when Joshua Kimmich, given time and space to tuck inside, slid a pass down the inside right to greet a clever Musiala run. A sharp finish, chopped across Room from an angle, gave the scoreline a look to reflect Germany’s steady stream of chances.Then Brown raised the volume with a delightful goal, the impressive left-back steering in a deft volley after Deniz Undav’s flick. Undav, a substitute, quickly scored from close range shortly after Jearl Margaritha had come close for Curaçao. A deft dink from Havertz completed the rout but the blue wave had made its impression.