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The Real Madrid star was his country’s best player in their World Cup opener on Saturday. They’ll need more of the same if they are to make a deep runVinícius Júnior is not wearing the famous Brazil No 10 at this World Cup. For now, the hallowed shirt of Pelé, Zico, Rivellino, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho and all the rest belongs to Neymar.Or at least it belongs to a man faintly resembling Neymar. Now 34, he showed just enough at Santos to make Carlo Ancelotti’s squad after two lucrative but mostly wasted years in Saudi Arabia. Ancelotti could have chosen João Pedro or Richarlison or Savinho or Gabriel Jesus or Igor Jesus or, hell, even Antony, but he took Neymar. Who is injured again – a calf problem this time – and whose fitness will loom over the Brazilian campaign, just as it has at some point during every one of his four World Cups.Neymar, who will loom over Vinícius Júnior, too.If Vinícius is now Brazil’s undisputed star, the 25-year-old has also yet to really make the team his own. He has turned in frustrating and often fruitless performances at major international tournaments, while scoring a mere nine goals in 49 appearances entering this, his second World Cup.He has yet to wrest top billing from Neymar, whose jersey was worn by huge swaths of the Brazilian fans in their draw with Morocco on Saturday.Neymar, visibly hobbled, ambled by the adoring Brazilian crowds before the match, confirming that he is still here, that he still matters. He sported a backwards hat, like the teenager who once dazzled us before injuries sapped his powers over the last decade. He got what he wanted: loud cheers, even though he wasn’t even in the matchday squad. Neymar, and the No 10, were there but they also were not. He attempted a bit of coaching from the sidelines during the game, trying to exert influence over a team he can help in no other way.So if ever there was a time for Vinícius to announce, or indeed confirm, that he was taking charge, this was it: the only group-stage match of this World Cup featuring two of Fifa’s top-10 teams.He did just that, under the watchful eye of Brazil legends Ronaldo, Kaká and Roberto Carlos. And he did it for his coach, Ancelotti, who oversaw Vinícius’s maturation at Real Madrid, who coaxed him from prodigy to superstar.Vinícius was man of the match – admittedly a tad generously, given the performance of Morocco’s marvelously efficient 18-year-old playmaker Ayyoub Bouaddi. And it was Vinícius’s 32nd-minute equalizer that roused Brazil from their early slumber.Several times in the first half, Brazil’s players felt compelled to wave their arms upwards at their own fans, who far outnumbered their Moroccan counterparts, demanding more support. They may as well have asked the same of themselves, stunned as they seemed that the semi-finalists at the last World Cup – a stage the Brazilians have not reached on foreign soil in nearly a quarter-century – played right through them.“The team was a bit anxious and at the beginning nerves were all over the place,” Ancelotti confessed after the match. “In the second half we did a lot better.”Yet out wide for a side still finding itself, Vinícius was a relentless danger. In the 14th minute, he hurtled up the last strip of grass in direct sunlight, beat his club – and now international – rival Achraf Hakimi, and shuffled into the shadows, unleashing a cross that Igor Thiago couldn’t quite get his head on.Later, Vinícius found a pocket of space in the Moroccan box, where Bruno Guimarães gave him a clever ball. He cut inside to improve an acute angle, turning Neil El Aynaoui inside out, and blasted his finish past Yassine Bounou. The goal canceled out Ismael Saibari’s delightful 21st-minute dink.It was the last goal of the game, from a chance that carried no more than 0.1 expected goals.“I believe I can improve a lot, I managed to score a goal, but I didn’t have 100% of my best technical part,” Vinícius said after the match.From there, Brazil settled down and Morocco set up in a deep block. Most of whatever threat Brazil still posed emanated from Vinícius’s left flank. He danced his way into space but nobody had joined him in the attack to connect with his cross – something which may well become a theme in Ancelotti’s striker-less system. Then Vinícius loped into the space behind Hakimi after being sprung again, finding Raphinha, whose finish was feckless.“When you’re up against Vinícius, it’s hard to defend,” Morocco manager Mohamed Ouahbi lamented.He was hardly perfect. Vinícius gave the ball away a lot, tried a fair few things that didn’t come off. But on the night, he was there for his nation. When Brazil needed a spark, not to mention a goal, they got it from the Real Madrid star.For now, that will suit the five-time champions just fine. And there was something fitting about a man called Vini doing the business in North Jersey.

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Forget the Olympic and the rest. People across the planet remember where they were for their biggest World Cup matchesThe connection between King Lear and the 1966 World Cup is little known, mainly because it affected very few people at a now defunct boarding school. I had been a surprise selection to act in the school’s production of Lear (yes, I played the Fool; yes, I was typecast). The day before one of the performances I fell and twisted something and was a doubtful starter for a part that required a lot of dashing about.Matron prescribed sleeping pills. That night England were playing Mexico in that now-sanctified tournament – almost a must-win after a goalless start against Uruguay. I went to bed early, tucked my transistor under the pillow to hear the commentary, went spark out and only heard the result next morning: England 2 Mexico 0. The rest is national history.Also, the invalid recovered enough to get a rave review in the Wallingford Herald and embarked on the dream of theatrical stardom which, sadly, had to wait for another 30 years before I made the big time as a Teletubby in the village panto.The point of the above burble is that the World Cup, more than any other sporting event, is not just global but personal. It invades the English summer like nothing else. Brides with weddings planned for ages suddenly find themselves competing with must-see matches. Pubs empty if they don’t have screens. Wimbledon grumpily finds itself playing second fiddle. Ditto Test matches.People across the planet remember where they were for their own biggest matches and who was with them. Olympics, forget it. Unless it’s held down the road, it never takes over like The Big One.And surely every English teenager of that time remembers where they were on the Great Day: the Soviet linesman; Kenneth Wolstenholme: “It is now”; Bobby Moore’s smile. All in black and white. Imprinted in our memories like JFK’s murder and the moon landing. Even now, when we can’t remember where we put our specs, phone or car keys.We might by now have a more nuanced view of that epic. The ineptitude of allowing the trophy to be stolen, which was followed by Joe Mears, the chair of the Football Association, trying to claim the reward for himself rather than the owner of Pickles, the dog who found it.But my schoolboy innocence disappeared only when I read the work of the football writer Jonathan Wilson: Argentina and Brazil being given training grounds with no goalposts; the foreign press treated as muck; South Americans being picked on by European referees; Pelé being kicked (literally) out of the tournament. The voyage to Port Stanley had some of its roots at Wembley.Ah, well. My family was never that football-crazy. But somehow the World Cup infiltrates itself everywhere. In 1970, my brother, Richard, arranged his wedding in a London hotel on the day England played Brazil in Guadalajara: the match when Gordon Banks made that save from Pelé. Barring fire alarms, no wedding party has ever dispersed so quickly. The bride and groom went upstairs to their room, but instead of the customary post-nuptial activity he insisted on watching the match. It still rankles a bit with my sister‑in-law. But they did have their 56th anniversary this week.England skipped the next two World Cups, after Brian Clough described the Poland goalkeeper, Jan Tomaszewski, on TV as “a clown” at half-time in the crucial qualifying match for 1974. For clown, read genius. Next morning the Sun headline read “THE END OF THE WORLD”.There followed the fatalistic years when English football – dull, grubby, violent fans – found itself challenged as the nation’s leading sport. When, in 1986, England had a sniff of success they were thwarted by Maradona and the Hand of God. By 1990, with three football tragedies fresh in the memory – the Bradford fire, the Heysel riot and the Hillsborough horror – with Mrs Thatcher trying to make it illegal to attend football without permission – England’s national game was at its nadir. Bobby Robson, the England manager, was being vilified in the pubs and the press in a manner that make Keir Starmer’s travails look like mere flesh wounds.As in King Lear, I think I played something of a role here. The Guardian sent me to the World Cup in Italy, but gave me a break to cover Wimbledon, which suited me (and saved them money).England were at first corralled on Sardinia to curtail the movement of their unwelcome supporters – Saint Helena might have been better. From the start, the journalists on the spot were talking about 1990 being the most boring World Cup of all. But stealthily England were worming their way through the ranks.By the time they beat Belgium to reach the quarter-finals the nation was pricking up its ears. The next match was against the surprise package, Cameroon. I was due to fly back for the semis and final, but that night was watching quietly at home in north London. At half-time I put my dustbin out. A normally busy street was deserted, not a sound; everyone was watching.Gary Lineker won the game with a penalty. Afterwards, our genteel local was in raptures. When I flew to Milan for the fateful semi in Turin, I was greeted by the verdict formed by my colleagues: “Terrible, terrible tournament”. I had to tell them: “You don’t understand. Back home everyone’s crazy about it.” Modern communications had not yet permeated Fleet Street. Those on the spot hadn’t a clue.England lost the Gazza’s-tears match and the final – Argentina beating Germany – was indeed complete shite. But that was the real turning point, of (later Sir) Bobby’s reputation and football regaining its status as the unchallenged national preoccupation.Beware you June and July brides; your big occasion might not be as big as you think.

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The Real Madrid star was his country’s best player in their World Cup opener on Saturday. They’ll need more of the same if they are to make a deep runVinícius Júnior is not wearing the famous Brazil No 10 at this World Cup. For now, the hallowed shirt of Pelé, Zico, Rivellino, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho and all the rest belongs to Neymar.Or at least it belongs to a man faintly resembling Neymar. Now 34, he showed just enough at Santos to make Carlo Ancelotti’s squad after two lucrative but mostly wasted years in Saudi Arabia. Ancelotti could have chosen João Pedro or Richarlison or Savinho or Gabriel Jesus or Igor Jesus or, hell, even Antony, but he took Neymar. Who is injured again – a calf problem this time – and whose fitness will loom over the Brazilian campaign, just as it has at some point during every one of his four World Cups.Neymar, who will loom over Vinícius Júnior, too.If Vinícius is now Brazil’s undisputed star, the 25-year-old has also yet to really make the team his own. He has turned in frustrating and often fruitless performances at major international tournaments, while scoring a mere nine goals in 49 appearances entering this, his second World Cup.He has yet to wrest top billing from Neymar, whose jersey was worn by huge swaths of the Brazilian fans in their draw with Morocco on Saturday.Neymar, visibly hobbled, ambled by the adoring Brazilian crowds before the match, confirming that he is still here, that he still matters. He sported a backwards hat, like the teenager who once dazzled us before injuries sapped his powers over the last decade. He got what he wanted: loud cheers, even though he wasn’t even in the matchday squad. Neymar, and the No 10, were there but they also were not. He attempted a bit of coaching from the sidelines during the game, trying to exert influence over a team he can help in no other way.So if ever there was a time for Vinícius to announce, or indeed confirm, that he was taking charge, this was it: the only group-stage match of this World Cup featuring two of Fifa’s top-10 teams.He did just that, under the watchful eye of Brazil legends Ronaldo, Kaká and Roberto Carlos. And he did it for his coach, Ancelotti, who oversaw Vinícius’s maturation at Real Madrid, who coaxed him from prodigy to superstar.Vinícius was man of the match – admittedly a tad generously, given the performance of Morocco’s marvelously efficient 18-year-old playmaker Ayyoub Bouaddi. And it was Vinícius’s 32nd-minute equalizer that roused Brazil from their early slumber.Several times in the first half, Brazil’s players felt compelled to wave their arms upwards at their own fans, who far outnumbered their Moroccan counterparts, demanding more support. They may as well have asked the same of themselves, stunned as they seemed that the semi-finalists at the last World Cup – a stage the Brazilians have not reached on foreign soil in nearly a quarter-century – played right through them.“The team was a bit anxious and at the beginning nerves were all over the place,” Ancelotti confessed after the match. “In the second half we did a lot better.”Yet out wide for a side still finding itself, Vinícius was a relentless danger. In the 14th minute, he hurtled up the last strip of grass in direct sunlight, beat his club – and now international – rival Achraf Hakimi, and shuffled into the shadows, unleashing a cross that Igor Thiago couldn’t quite get his head on.Later, Vinícius found a pocket of space in the Moroccan box, where Bruno Guimarães gave him a clever ball. He cut inside to improve an acute angle, turning Neil El Aynaoui inside out, and blasted his finish past Yassine Bounou. The goal canceled out Ismael Saibari’s delightful 21st-minute dink.It was the last goal of the game, from a chance that carried no more than 0.1 expected goals.“I believe I can improve a lot, I managed to score a goal, but I didn’t have 100% of my best technical part,” Vinícius said after the match.From there, Brazil settled down and Morocco set up in a deep block. Most of whatever threat Brazil still posed emanated from Vinícius’s left flank. He danced his way into space but nobody had joined him in the attack to connect with his cross – something which may well become a theme in Ancelotti’s striker-less system. Then Vinícius loped into the space behind Hakimi after being sprung again, finding Raphinha, whose finish was feckless.“When you’re up against Vinícius, it’s hard to defend,” Morocco manager Mohamed Ouahbi lamented.He was hardly perfect. Vinícius gave the ball away a lot, tried a fair few things that didn’t come off. But on the night, he was there for his nation. When Brazil needed a spark, not to mention a goal, they got it from the Real Madrid star.For now, that will suit the five-time champions just fine. And there was something fitting about a man called Viní doing the business in North Jersey.

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Head coach ‘absolutely delighted’ with World Cup triumph over Haiti‘Different approach’ needed in games against Morocco and BrazilSteve Clarke suggested expectation weighed heavily on the shoulders of Scotland’s players after they laboured at times during the 1-0 win over Haiti. The game marked Scotland’s first at a World Cup since 1998 and delivered a first win since eight years earlier. The Scots top Group C after Brazil drew with Morocco. Yet with those teams, both ranked in the top 10 in the world, still to come there is an understanding Scotland will have to improve to realise their ambition of becoming the first team from the nation to reach the knockout phase of a major tournament.“I am absolutely delighted with my players,” said Clarke. “Resilience, character had to be on the pitch tonight. There is no relief. Everyone told us it was a must-win game and we won. When you win a must-win game, you have to be happy with yourselves.”On the challenges ahead, Clarke added: “We go into them with less pressure than everybody put on to us going into this game. If we defend as well as we did here, hopefully play a little bit better with the ball and create more, we will be OK. It’s not about raising the performance, it is about a different approach against a different opponent.“Towards the end, you know you are 1-0 up and have something to hang on to so that is what you do. The players deserve a lot of credit. I thought Haiti were terrific at denying us time and space, which made it difficult. So the other characteristics that get you three points come out. That is why we are sitting here with three points and Haiti are empty handed.”Clarke, who hailed the “exceptional” Lewis Ferguson in midfield, had spoken before the game about his determination to enjoy this World Cup. Scotland, also under Clarke, have toiled at the last two European Championships.“Sometimes I put myself under too much pressure but when you are in charge of a group like this, you have to appreciate what you have got,” said the 62-year-old. “They have never let me down. This for me is everything, I have always wanted to go to a World Cup with my country.”Haiti’s head coach, Sebastien Migne, was as effusive as Clarke about his own team’s performance. “We are growing, we are learning,” he said. “On one hand I am very proud of what the boys showed. We rose to the challenge but that makes it all the more frustrating that we came up short. We know that with Haiti nothing is ever easy, we have to be resilient. If we had won, we wouldn’t have succumbed to euphoria so I am not going to call this a catastrophe either.“From the beginning, we knew it was not going to be easy. Eight best third teams qualifying could have us through even with a win in the third game. Our opponents have a lot more to lose than we do.”Migne said a number of his players were discussing their claim for a second-half penalty in the Haiti dressing room. The Haitians appealed in vain for a spot kick after the ball struck the arm of the Scotland centre-back Grant Hanley.

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There was nothing too complicated about the Bournemouth man’s performance but he took the fight to Haiti in a historic World Cup winThe game was about 15 minutes in and a familiar script appeared to be taking shape. After an initial flurry, Scotland were under the pump, struggling to deal with the intensity and physicality of a determined Haiti team. Passes were going astray and tackles were being missed. It seemed only a matter of time before calamity became manifest, but there was one route of escape, summarised eloquently by a cry from the crowd: “Hit it long for the wee man!”Ben Gannon-Doak, the wee man in question, did what was required of him. The balls did indeed start going long to the Bournemouth winger, and, when they did, he took the fight to the opponent. In the 17th minute he hit the byline to square the ball for a Scott McTominay effort that came back off the post. Twelve minutes later, after great hold up play from Che Adams, he again went deep, then nipped past the full-back Martin Expérience to tee up Adams for a shot that was parried away from close range. That loose ball came to John McGinn, and a deflected effort from Scotland’s No 7 eventually found the back of the net to decide the outcome of the match.Despite all the Tartan Army battalions that have flooded into Massachusetts over the past few days, despite the sea of salmon pink that filled out the Boston Stadium, giving the impression of a Scotland home game, this match was always going to be a tighter, tenser affair than anyone would have wished for. Had one of a number of Haitian half-chances gone another way it could have been a disaster to rival Peru, Costa Rica, Iran or Zaire. Not scoring any more than a solitary goal, meanwhile, could yet deny Scotland the chance to escape Group C. But they got their first World Cup goal since Craig Burley in 1998 and their first victory since Mo Johnston scored against Sweden in 1990. And in Gannon-Doak’s performance, they also had something to cling onto.Jimmy Johnstone, John Robertson, Archie Gemmill, Pat Nevin: Scotland have a tradition of tricky wingers which petered out at roughly the same time as their hopes of reaching major championships. At their last World Cup in 1998 there were no wingers, just wingbacks: Christian Dailly and Darren Jackson. The only Gemmill in the team was Scot. It might be simplifying things to suggest that Scotland need someone getting chalk on their boots for the whole thing to click, but sometimes simplicity does work.Gannon-Doak’s efforts were not complicated, particularly in the first half. When he got possession he looked to attack. When the team were hemmed in, he gave them an out ball. This is not an option Steve Clarke has had at his disposal at his past two tournaments. Perhaps it shouldn’t have proven as important as it did against Haiti, but Gannon-Doak’s pace on the counter will surely be needed in the remaining group games against Morocco and Brazil. The 20-year-old is playing with the confidence of youth, and not cowed by the fear of repeating previous failure, another plus. He wants to take a man on and has the ability to back up his ambitions. He is also a relative unknown and someone opposition coaches will not have much research material to lean on. If you’re Scotland, these are all good things.The reason for the relative enigma is that Gannon-Doak has cumulatively missed over a year of football through injury since making his debut for Liverpool in the 2022-23 season. He has had surgery on his lateral meniscus and twice on his hamstrings, one of which he described as “hanging on by a thread” after he was withdrawn on a stretcher during the ultimately jubilant qualifying victory over Denmark last November. Gannon-Doak has said he found strength through this adversity, thanks in part through a return to the Catholicism of his youth. A bit of mental steel is not a bad attribute to have in a World Cup either.What the boy from North Ayrshire can offer off the ball is something we will likely learn more about over the next two weeks as Scotland come up against far tougher challenges than the one presented by Haiti. But one final simple quality that perhaps should not be underestimated is that of the excitement Gannon-Doak, or really any winger with the wind beneath their heels, can bring to a team and their supporters. Scotland’s recent failures have been characterised not only by apparent timidity, but also prevalent dullness: safety-first football that never proved to be enough. Scotland degenerated into such play once again in the final, scratchy minutes of this match. But when Gannon-Doak, substituted with 20 minutes to go, was on the pitch there was always a flickering sense that things could change in a moment. It may well be true that it’s the hope that kills you, but surely better to die in hope than fear.

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England’s squad arrived at Swope Soccer Village, their World Cup base, to find locals (and the local police) out in forceBefore Thomas Tuchel and his England players departed for the United States, there was talk about their World Cup training ground in Kansas City being too open. It was motivated, in part, by the Southampton Spygate scandal. Would England’s rivals be able to steal a glance at them? Tuchel even said that the Football Association would look to erect protective fences.The nine-pitch facility at Swope Soccer Village is certainly sprawling but here’s the thing. Nobody is getting on site without going past the armed police officers at the entrance. There was a throwaway line from a steward on Saturday as England trained on the complex’s showpiece pitch after flying in from Florida after their pre-tournament camp. “You guys see spying,” he said. “We see personal security.” The latter rather overrides the former. It was safe to say that they have it covered.The buildup to England’s arrival was further coloured by the theft of some of their kit in transit from Florida, including boots and footballs. Again, it did not feel like much of issue. Everything was recovered; two arrests have been made. “My boots?” said the goalkeeper, Dean Henderson. “I’ve got them on my feet so it’s all good. We got them all back so it’s nice.”There did not seem to be much to fret about as the players went through a light session that lasted about an hour – if training under blue skies and a blazing sun that pushed the mercury to 29C can be described as light. The second chapter of England’s summer adventure has started and if the focus is about to narrow and the intensity pick up, then the excitement has gone up a few notches, too.The opening tie against Croatia in Dallas on Wednesday is edging closer and the good news is that England look to have what they need at Swope and, indeed, their hotel – the four-star, 54-room Inn at Meadowbrook, which is a 20-minute drive away.England always wanted to stay in Kansas City because of its location in the centre of the US and how it would mitigate their travel distances to matches; the plan is to fly in and out for each assignment, the FA having been clear about the benefits of a fixed base, a home.England were denied the first pick of Kansas City’s training bases and even the second one because they were not drawn to play any of their group phase games here. Argentina and the Netherlands were and the former bagged the best facility – Sporting Kansas City’s performance centre. The latter went for the training ground of the women’s team, the KC Current, which is newer than Swope, perhaps a little slicker-looking. As an aside, a fourth nation – Algeria, who have matches in Kansas City – have ended up at the University of Kansas facility.But Swope, which is home to Sporting KC’s second team and their academy sides, ticked the boxes for Tuchel and the FA. It was particularly reassuring to see the quality of the pitch they used on Saturday – in light of scare stories about that aspect of things. England will rely on a different grass surface which is around the back of the main building but the reality is that it is of the same standard. And the standard is high. Local media described all three grass pitches at Swope – the other six are astroturf – as among the best in the state. They are absolutely comparable to those that Argentina and the Netherlands will use.The FA has put a new gym in at Swope and created a lounge for the players and they are happy, too, with the intimate Inn at Meadowbrook, which they have taken over exclusively. There are a number of permanent residents that live on condos close to the site and their access to areas like the principal restaurant will be restricted while England stay there. To say thank you, Tuchel’s players will have a meet and greet with them.The training session at Swope was open to a number of local children, who were specially invited and thrilled to be there. Harry Kane felt a lot of love. “Harry, you’re better than Bellingham,” screamed one over-excited youngster. There were banks of media at one end of the pitch.What stood out for England was the warmth of the welcome. The locals were out in force with flags and signs as they drove up to the hotel – a massive police escort having helped them there from the airport. As the players walked in, they heard music from the Kansas City Chief’s band and saw the NFL team’s cheerleaders. Even the mascot, KC Wolf, was there.Kansas City was not supposed to be a host venue for matches but they got the invitation from Fifa after Chicago said no. They are overwhelmingly delighted to have been asked. It is a city of jazz music heritage, the birthplace of Charlie Parker. It is a city of fountains, with over 200 of them, some spectacular. There are 220 parks and 29 lakes. It is a city of barbecued meats, smoked ribs and burnt ends among the specialities. It is a city of charm and friendliness, which has a love affair with the heart symbol, partly because it is in the heart of the US. “We like to say that we greet people with a smile and a wink,” said one local.Most urgently, perhaps, it is a city of sporting passion, headlined by the Chiefs, who have won three of the last seven Super Bowls. Also their baseball team, the Kansas City Royals. Football is big, too, thanks to Sporting KC and the Current, whose CPKC Stadium was the first in the world to be purpose-built exclusively for a professional women’s sports team.The World Cup Fan Fest, which has been designed by the global architects’ firm Populous and holds 25,000, was rocking on Friday night as the US thrashed Paraguay in their opening World Cup tie. Fans enter it through a 65ft high heart. England intend to thrive off the positive vibes.

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Brutally tough return to tournament awaits, but the stature of opposition feels less important than the fact of being here at allIt was an arrival worth more than half a century of waiting. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) players strolled into the arrivals hall of George Bush airport on Thursday kitted out in tuxedo suits and leopard-print sashes, channelling La Sape vogue for snappy dress that swept Kinshasa in the 1970s. A throng of local volunteers cheered them through and, in a climate where little can be taken for granted, their welcome to Houston was a genuinely wholesome moment.The DRC’s squad looked appreciative although perhaps they were simply relieved to see new faces. The joy of a first World Cup since 1974, when they competed as Zaire, has been complicated by the Ebola outbreak in their homeland and a 21-day isolation period imposed by the US authorities. The players and staff formed a bubble in Belgium, playing one friendly against Denmark and being forced to cancel a scheduled meeting with Chile in Cádiz.For all the precautions there were at least few of the difficulties apparently encountered by Senegal and Uzbekistan upon entering. The DRC are understood to have had temperatures screened before disembarking their flight, but made it in with no alarms and found a host venue keen to roll out the red carpet. They will be based in Houston for as long as their tournament continues, training at the compact SaberCats Stadium in the city’s south. Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo await on Wednesday; it is a brutally tough return to the top, but the stature of their opposition feels less important than the fact of being here at all.“We always dreamed of this,” said Jonathan, sitting in the stadium’s main stand on Friday afternoon. “A lot of people have been waiting a long time, but we never gave up. I believe this is our time.”He was among about 70 members of the local Congolese expat community invited to watch the team’s training session on Friday, along with a large group of local children who joined the players for photographs. Kapinga Yvette Ngandu, DRC’s ambassador to the United States, took part in a semi-formal welcome ceremony. Houston appears eager to pull out the stops and Sébastien Desabre’s side hope to ensure their hospitality extends into July.“We need to adapt,” said Desabre when asked about any ill consequences of their disrupted preparation. “We’re focused on our work, we’re professionals and sometimes the way is not easy. It’s not a problem for us.”The Real Betis forward Cédric Bakambu, a 35-year-old veteran of several qualifying near-misses, drew the most adulation from those looking on. The Congolese diaspora in Houston is thought to number about 10,000, if US-born children are counted; it remains to be seen how many have navigated the tournament’s prohibitive prices to watch the troubled country’s date with history.Jonathan, who left the DRC 17 years ago at the age of 21 and lives five minutes’ drive from SaberCats Stadium, was not giving up on witnessing it at first-hand . “I’m trying to be there, I’ve got to be there,” he said. “The tickets are crazy expensive, but we’re going to have to try and do what we can for the team.”Desabre, a Frenchman who did the rounds of 11 managerial roles in Africa before striking gold with the DRC, hopes they can do plenty for Jonathan and his local peers, as well as the millions watching back home who cannot spend the time or money on quarantining. “We are very affected [by the situation],” he said. “It’s an additional source of motivation for us to fight on the field.”A win against Colombia or Uzbekistan would give the DRC a strong shout of progressing through Group K and potentially a last-32 meeting with England, even if Portugal prove too strong. Desabre said an African World Cup winner was “just a question of time”; it would probably be the biggest shock in football history if his players achieved it, but an experienced core, including Axel Tuanzebe, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Chancel Mbemba, will not be easily rolled over.There will be no repeat of 1974, when Zaire tumbled out with a goal difference of -14 and were mocked when Mwepu Ilunga’s decision to burst from the defensive wall against Brazil, smashing the ball upfield before a free-kick could be taken, was widely misinterpreted. “We prepared well and now we want to be well represented in this group,” Desabre said. “After 52 years, it’s really a pride, a pleasure.”Joining the chants of “Mbote”, which means “welcome” in Lingala, Jonathan was a picture of both. “We have resilience and we really have faith,” he said.If their early moments in Houston are anything to go by, the DRC can also boast bucket-loads of style.

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This all proved rather difficult to evaluate as the dust settled. Scotland’s fifth win at a World Cup finals should have been a cause for epic celebration. Victory over Haiti meant this is a team not guaranteed to receive a bloody nose against lesser nations after all. More than 10,000 days after limping out of the World Cup in France, Scotland returned to the biggest stage in football and claimed three points. They top Group C.Yet in the Boston Stadium, the counter narrative was more than a feeling. With Morocco and Brazil to come, this single goal success may prove insufficient as Scotland look to emerge from the group phase for the first time. This regressed into an unconvincing display from Steve Clarke’s team. Haiti lacked the composure to punish that. Still, those who would blindly celebrate Scotland’s win are probably ignoring a bigger picture that should matter. John McGinn’s goal, a sclaff in Scottish terminology, summed up much that was to come thereafter. Scotland must now cling on in their next two outings.The opening half was as curious as it was entertaining. Scotland looked impressive in moments moving forward but left gaps for Haiti to attack, which they did. Haiti carried menace without seriously looking like scoring. Yet it felt unwise for Scotland to offer their opponents such hope. Clarke had branded Haiti “dynamic” on Friday. Erratic looked a more appropriate description.A pre-match prediction had been that Haitians would outnumber Scots in the crowd. Boston and surrounding areas have a large population from Haiti. Perhaps a number of them sold tickets to Scottish fans. So visible in their pink away shirts – which must be a record seller – Scotland supporters were comfortably in the majority, just as they had been while swarming streets in central Boston. Unsurprisingly, the Tartan Army provided a wonderfully vibrant atmosphere. “Loch Lomond” had already been belted out in emphatic style by the time Scotland won the anthem game. This was, however, all fluff; Scotland came to the United States to make tournament impact rather than receive platitudes for providing colour and noise.Scott McTominay came within the width of a post of sending Scotland ahead after 16 minutes. The Napoli man collected a pass from Ben Gannon-Doak, whose attacking influence was crucial to Scotland. Wilson Isidor’s subsequent claim for a penalty was rightly waved away after Grant Hanley did little more than ruffle the Sunderland man’s hair.Archie Gemmill’s iconic goal for Scotland against the Netherlands has featured a lot in pre-tournament coverage. It was even shown on the screen here before the teams were read out. McGinn’s opener could barely have been more contrasting in style. Did the Scottish contingent care? Don’t be ridiculous.Hanley launched a fine long ball to Che Adams. The Torino striker played wide to Gannon-Doak. Adams thought he had scored from Gannon-Doak’s low cross but Johny Placide produced a fine save. On hand to connect with the rebound was McGinn, whose scuffed shot had already taken one deflection by the time it flicked off the outstretched foot of Jean-Ricner Bellegarde. Perhaps there was something in the water; this goal arrived in the spell immediately after the first hydration break of the game, during which the Scots were noticeably sharp. Haiti jabbed back. Angus Gunn saved low from Ruben Providence before the same player was halted by a superb Aaron Hickey tackle.Harum-scarum football continued in the early stages of the second half. Gunn was not troubled in that window. Neither was Placide, albeit Lawrence Shankland came within inches of connecting with a terrific Andy Robertson cross from the left.By the start of the fourth quarter (the extent to which the flow of matches would be altered seemed to be ignored before this World Cup) the scoreline did not particularly suit either team. Haiti would have targeted this fixture for some form of points reward. Scotland’s hopes of reaching the last 32 on three points – a perfectly sensible ambition – surely needed better by way of a goal difference position.McGinn almost improved it, instead screwing wide after latching onto a Hickey header. Haiti’s finest opening of the second half belonged to the lively Providence – Scotland should not have been tempting it – as he curled wide. Frantzdy Pierrot headed just beyond Gunn’s right-hand post. As the clock ticked down, Scotland were scatty. Haiti huffed and puffed, without really looking like capitalising on that.One oddity of the Scotland performance was the ineffectual nature of McTominay’s involvement. Clarke can rightly take solace from the fact his talisman can and should be better against Morocco and Brazil. He will need to be. Scotland will need to be.

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⚽️ World Cup kick-off 9pm EST/2am BST/11am AEST⚽️ Player guide | Bracketology | Golden Boot | ">Email TomPre-match postbag. “I confess I was a wee bit worried after the first 10 minutes of the Brazil v Morocco game, because they were running about jolly quickly and firing balls into the net with great panache. The longer it’s gone on though the more confident I feel. I suspect we’ll confuse them by playing what they might think is a different sport” – Scott Blair“I’m English and living down under in Melbourne. We are actually getting a whole bunch of games at reasonable times as we normally have to watch intentional games at 2am. I’m enjoying tea and toast over breakfast games and looking forward to hearing the Scots belt out Flower of Scotland, always a spine tingling experience, even for and Englishman.” – Simon Dobson Continue reading...