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England reporter in Kansas CityPublished10 minutes agoThomas Tuchel says that he is "not ready to adapt" England's playing style at the World Cup despite the heat - as it would "give up" the team's strengths.Since starting his job as head coach in January 2025, Tuchel has made a point of saying how much he likes the physicality of English domestic football and that the national side should replicate that style.The 52-year-old's squad selections have followed that thinking with an emphasis on physicality and powerful running when he picked his 26-man squad for the tournament."They want to be active with the ball," the German told BBC Sport about his England side before their World Cup opener against Croatia on Wednesday (21:00 BST)."We have a young group. We have a courageous group. We have a brave group of players."So let's let's go for it. I mean, no one guarantees you that we win. So we want to at least try it, our style and our belief."The temperatures in the USA, Mexico and Canada are extremely high and mandatory hydration breaks have been introduced in all matches, effectively breaking them into quarters.And speaking at the news conference before the Croatia match, Tuchel said hydration breaks can "change the character of each half".He acknowledged the three-minute intervals give coaches chance to "change and reset" during games while delivering "group messages".Temperatures in Dallas will be more than 30C by the time England kick off their opening Group L game - but the effects of the heat will be reduced because the Dallas Stadium is one of the air-conditioned indoor venues being used at this World Cup.And starting the tournament in that stadium has given Tuchel belief that his side can impose their style on Croatia "because we play indoors".But the England boss did reference the impact of the heat has had on his players at their Kansas City training base."Yesterday, it was very hot even here in training," Tuchel said."And we could feel that it has a more impact than, for example, today. So let's see."I'm just not ready to adapt into a different style of football because of circumstances that we cannot influence. I think we would just give up our strengths."Tuchel came to the USA for last year's Club World Cup and, with the support team at the Football Association, used that tournament to plan England's World Cup preparation."Research about the Club World Cup showed us that the style is pretty much the same, but maybe the repetition is less often," he said."So maybe a player who has maybe 10 to 15% less sprints, less distance. It [the conditions] influenced the volume and the intensity but the style of play not so much."In the end we need to have an answer anyway to every scenario."So, will we be a lot in possession or will we attack a lot the last third of the opponent? Will they push us back and do we need to defend deep? We need to have answers to everything."Everything you need to know about the World Cup

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Manager confident match will showcase side’s abilities‘We should play brave and to the strengths of the players’Thomas Tuchel has said the occasion and tension will bring the best out of England when they open their World Cup campaign with an ­awkward game against Croatia on Wednesday.England cruised through ­qualifying, but have a patchy record against top opposition and much to prove before their first encounter in Group L. They have faced top-20 sides on three occasions under Tuchel, drawing with Uruguay and losing to Japan and Senegal.Yet Tuchel is confident ­England will have a different mindset in a competitive game. The German cannot wait for his first World Cup to begin and believes his side will be ready for the challenge posed by ­Croatia under the Dallas Stadium roof.“Because it’s not a friendly match, we will not try stuff,” England’s head coach said. “We will rely on us and the occasion and the tension will bring out the best in us.”Tuchel’s aim is for England to play with the intensity of a Premier League side. “We should play brave and play to the strengths of the players,” he said. “I feel clearly that the players want it and that they are successful in club football like this.“They compete in the ­strongest league, most of them. The others who are not in the league ­compete in the highest level in Europe and ­Champions League and they play in brave and active teams. It makes things excited and creates a ­certain energy and we need a connection with our fans who are here, with the fans at home, to create something special.”England’s carefully planned buildup involved them ­acclimatising to the heat by flying to a Florida for a pre-tournament training camp two weeks ago. They have stepped up preparations at their base in Kansas City and Tuchel, who is expected to start Jude Bellingham over Morgan Rogers at No 10, feels his players require no special messaging about their World Cup starting here.“They know,” he said. “I don’t feel any emotional fuel is needed to make everyone clear what is happening. We know.“I see it even as an advantage that we’re very focused on what we can influence. We don’t put it in the ­bigger picture – just put it where it is. Go day by day, influence what you can ­influence. If we can stay there, I think we have an even ­better chance to compete and perform on our highest level.”England could overpower an ­ageing Croatia side, but they must be wary of the craft of Mateo Kovacic and the 40-year-old Luka Modric in midfield. The 37-year-old Ivan ­Perisic is another danger and scored in ­Croatia’s semi-final win over ­England at the 2018 World Cup.“It is a very difficult start,” Tuchel said. “It is an experienced team, an experienced coach, in tournament knockout football. It’s a top football nation and a very strong opponent. The centre of gravity in their game has dropped a bit, into a back three, we expect.“From a midfield three, which was the core of Croatia, it has only Kovacic and Modric still there. They’re ­playing in a midfield two now. They play with fluid No 10s and wing-backs. But the core is still Modric and Kovacic.“Then they have Perisic, who is always a threat with the crosses. That is one of the most dangerous crossers in world football, maybe – left foot, right foot, he does not even need space to put a cross in. It is ­remarkable. And they are strong in set pieces”.England have been working on their own set-pieces and looked in good shape when they thrashed Costa Rica last week.There are few selection headaches for Tuchel. He must decide whether to risk Bukayo Saka, with the winger troubled by an achilles problem. Noni Madueke is an option to start instead of his Arsenal teammate while Ezri Konsa and John Stones are expected to get the nod over Marc Guéhi in central defence.The full-back Tino Livramento is out of the tournament after ­suffering a muscular injury in ­training; Tuche said scans indicated the Newcastle man would be out for four-to-five weeks. ­Chelsea’s Trevoh Chalobah has been called up in his place, a move that will free up Jarell Quansah to be a full-back option on both sides, together with Djed Spence. Chalobah will come in as a centre-half option.The squad will play a behind-closed-doors game at their Kansas City base on Thursday, Tuchel said, to keep the players who do not get many minutes against Croatia ticking over. The opposition could be the local MLS team, Sporting Kansas City. England did the same thing after their friendly against Costa Rica last Wednesday, when they had a training match against Miami United in Florida the next day. England’s second World Cup group game is not until Tuesday, against Ghana at Boston Stadium.“It is true that we try to play an in-house match after Croatia to use the time [well], we have many days [before the Ghana game],” Tuchel said. “It can give the players who don’t play minutes an extra match load. We did it after the Costa Rica game and we do it one last time on the day after Croatia.”

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England’s ‘footballaholic’ head coach may not be motivated by a fan’s passion but he is more than just a gun for hireIdentity lies at the heart of the World Cup. Who are we and how do we play? Does our academy system work better than yours? What do your coaching pathways look like compared with ours? And do you still get a bit emotional every time you watch that BBC montage of England’s penalty shootout win over Colombia at the 2018 World Cup?Maybe not if you happen to be Thomas Tuchel. This is not a man weighed down by the ghosts of England tournaments past. There is no missed penalty haunting this gangly German intellectual in his sleep, no costly red card in a knockout tie stalking his nightmares. For Tuchel, meaning is found merely in the pursuit of victory. At first glance there is no deeper cultural connection here and, for all the breezy talk of putting a second star on the shirt, there are times when it is hard to understand why Tuchel wants to bring an end to England men’s 60 years of hurt this summer.Of course, winning the World Cup would look good on the CV. The attraction of the job is obvious. The rewards are vast and the players are elite. Yet even if it makes sense on a sporting level, it is still fascinating to consider the wider motivation for Tuchel given it is safe to assume he was not supporting England when they lost those semi-finals to the Germans at Italia 90 and Euro 96.It comes back to the idea that what separates international football from the club game is playing for something bigger. For some, the aim is to go down as a legend in your own country, but Tuchel is not from England. He will not sing the national anthem when England face Croatia in their opening game in Group L in Dallas on Thursday. Will there be criticism from the usual suspects? Perhaps, but Tuchel is unlikely to care. He knows the words – “It is not so difficult,” he said with a grin – and explained that he still feels too shy to join in when the music strikes up.Tuchel’s predecessor brought a different energy. Gareth Southgate almost treated the England job as a higher calling. He spoke about politics and behaved like a man trying to heal the nation. Southgate wrote an open letter about society’s divisions and ended up being played by Joseph Fiennes in the stage and television versions of Dear England.There is none of that with Tuchel. His title is head coach rather than manager. He is not interested in talking about politics and his background means he is never going to become as overwhelmed by the job as Southgate was by the end of his time in charge.Still, though, there are layers to Tuchel. As a young coach he rose through the German pressing school. He has been described as a “footballaholic” and is bright, engaging and funny. His eccentric streak appeals to England’s love of a maverick, yet the willingness to speak his mind can sometimes feel very un-English. It is hard, for instance, to picture Southgate ever calling one of his players repulsive.“Thomas is almost Latin in the way he speaks,” the FA’s technical director, John McDermott, said in Inside England, a book about the team’s journey over the past decade. “There’s a warmth and there’s a tactileness. He comes alive when he’s speaking about the team, the players, the games.”Tuchel did not click with the French media when he managed Paris Saint-Germain and has a reputation for being a hothead in Germany. He fell out with Joshua Kimmich at Bayern Munich and has always sounded ambivalent when talking about German football.England is where he most comes alive. It felt right for Tuchel when he became Chelsea’s manager in January 2021 and led them to Champions League glory four months later. Lockdown measures were still in place, but the 52-year-old talked enthusiastically about wanting to discover London’s bookshops and best coffee spots. “It’s the country, it’s the humour, it’s the way of life,” Tuchel once said of his love of England as a country.He is not putting it on. He likes zooming around the capital on Lime bikes. He has found his favourite gastropub and when he was younger he loved to pretend to be Chris Waddle “with the collar up in my garden” after watching the England winger during the 1990 World Cup.Perhaps Tuchel’s desire to lead England to glory is not such a mystery. Unlike Fabio Capello, he gets the culture. His favourite novel? TC Boyle’s Water Music, a story about a London thief and a Scottish explorer as they seek the source of the Niger River in Africa in the 18th century. The impression is that Tuchel feels a connection with England. Asked if he is an anglophile, he says: “I can’t explain it but it felt like this from the first weeks at Chelsea. It just felt so good to be in the country and a part of the Premier League. Every day was a gift almost.“What the league brings out of players and what the fans expect from the players, the coach made me feel very comfortable. I liked it from the first day. I cannot say often enough, it’s an honour for me to be England head coach. I feel basically at home when I land. I would say now: ‘I fly home.’ I fly home to my home in London. It feels like home when I land in London and I’m in England.”This is more than an expensive gun for hire. Tuchel cares. The longer he stays the less he feels like an outsider.

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Striker will lead England against Croatia at the home of the Dallas Cowboys, seeking to right the wrongs of Qatar 2022There has long been something about the mentality of US sports stars that has appealed to Harry Kane. The England captain sees it as something specific to them: a unique brand of never-say-die spirit. It leans into a broader notion – that anyone can achieve success if they want it badly enough, if they pursue it with all their heart. It is known as the American dream.Kane was introduced to it all in 2011 at the start of his professional career, when the path was anything but smooth at his boyhood club, Tottenham. He had started to become interested in the NFL and there was something about the New England Patriots quarterback, Tom Brady, that transfixed him.Kane watched The Brady 6 documentary. It told the story of how nobody wanted Brady in the 2000 NFL draft. Six other quarterbacks were taken before the Patriots made him the 199th pick. When the show came out, Brady had led the team to three Super Bowls. He would do so on a further four occasions, with Kane travelling to Atlanta in 2019 to watch the Patriots beat the Los Angeles Rams for No 6.Brady invited Kane to the team party afterwards and there is a lovely photograph of them together, Kane wearing a Patriots replica jersey, Brady’s No 12 across the front. The pair have remained in touch ever since. But it is not just Brady, even if he is the principle inspiration. Kane follows other NFL players and other American sports personalities.For Kane, it is the US in general. He is at ease in the country. He remembers going there on his first pre-season tour with Spurs in 2012, when the club played a game in New York and Kane was recognised in the streets. There are a lot of Tottenham fans in the Big Apple. Kane has been drawn back time and again, mainly to New York and Florida, where he loves the golf courses.In New York, he appeared on the Jimmy Fallon show in 2022 and Good Morning America a year later when he talked of wanting to be an NFL kicker after he retired from football. He first mentioned that in 2019 and his words are worth reprinting. “It goes back to that drive to be the best,” he said. “Even if I download a game on my phone, can I be the best in the world? If you play in the Premier League and the World Cup, and you then play in the NFL, would you be considered one of the greatest sportsmen ever?”Kane has lived his version of the American dream on the other side of the pond. The breakthrough at Spurs in 2014. The inexorable rise to become the face of the England team; the record goalscorer. The big money move to Bayern Munich in 2023. The titles with the Bundesliga club.“People didn’t expect much from Tom Brady,” Kane says. “Seeing the way he went about his business, his journey from the start … to go on and be the greatest ever player in his sport is maybe reminiscent of me earlier in my career. In that people doubted me and I worked hard to turn that around.“In terms of the US, it’s how open it is from the athlete and media point of view. Everyone wears their heart on their sleeve and they are maybe more honest in how they talk in the media. I enjoy being here. I’ve had good experiences in pre-season. I come here on holiday a bit to play golf. It’s been good memories.”Kane’s real American dream will begin at Dallas Stadium on Wednesday when he leads England out for their World Cup opener against Croatia. It feels appropriate that it is an NFL arena, the home of the Dallas Cowboys. Albeit not as appropriate as if it were the Patriots’ Gillette Stadium in Foxborough. England play their second group game there against Ghana next Tuesday. “That’s probably the one I’m excited to go to being a Patriots fan,” Kane says. “I’ve never been to the Gillette Stadium before.”There is certainly excitement for Kane and yet it is underpinned by conviction. There is something about the way he carries himself these days. The humility endures; a product of his upbringing, his struggles. But there is an awareness of his place in the global game, especially after the season he has had – 61 goals in 51 appearances for Bayern and a second Bundesliga title. The DFB-Pokal, too.Kane had played in five major finals – three for Spurs, including one in the Champions League; two for England, both at the European Championship. He lost all five, failing to score in any of them. In May, he bagged a second-half hat-trick in Bayern’s 3-0 win over Stuttgart.The 32-year-old has never been so prolific. His previous best for a season at club level was the 44 he got for Bayern in 2023-24. He is getting better with age and there is talk of the Ballon d’Or if the World Cup goes well. Of greatness. After winning nothing at Spurs, Kane knows he is viewed differently. It is a source of strength.“There’s a different feeling, for sure,” Kane says. “For me to have that weight off my shoulders [having won things at Bayern] is important. Especially this year having the trophies and having the cup final where I scored a hat-trick – my first big moment in a final. The perception around me has probably changed in the last few years.”Kane will win his 115th cap against Croatia, moving him to joint-third on the all-time England list, level with David Beckham, one of his heroes. Kane went to the same school in Chingford, east London. Only Peter Shilton (125) and Wayne Rooney (120) have played more for England. Of Kane’s 79 goals for his country, nine have come in the knockout rounds of World Cups and Euros. No other player in history has more than eight. Kane, on eight, is closing in on Gary Lineker’s World Cup record of 10 for England.“I’m coming into this tournament in the best way possible; the best place physically and mentally,” Kane says. “Throughout a career, there aren’t loads of times when all the pieces of the puzzle will come together at the right moment. Talking now, I feel like I’m in that place.“With every tournament, I always feel under pressure being the goalscorer … people expect you to score and help the team and I guess this year is no different. But I’m comfortable having that responsibility. I’m probably even more comfortable going into this year because of the way the season was for me.”Kane dwelt for a moment on the famous photograph of him as an 11-year-old with Beckham in 2005. It was at the launch of Beckham’s football academy. Also in the picture was Katie Goodland – Kane’s future wife. “Looking back on that with me and him and obviously my wife there, who was just a friend at the time … it’s a pretty crazy picture.”Kane’s journey with England has taken in five previous tournaments, starting with Euro 2016, and he found himself admitting that he holds on to the low points more tightly. The lowest was his critical penalty miss in the quarter-final loss to France at the 2022 World Cup.“The downs have almost motivated me [more] to be better, going back to the last World Cup and the disappointment with the way that ended,” he says. “After the time it took me to process it all and move on, it gave me an extra bite, an extra edge to really improve and push on.”Kane is more about looking ahead. The ultimate dream bubbles. What will be his final words in the dressing room before the team steps out against Croatia? “The messaging will be to go with freedom,” he says. “We have an extremely strong team, a physical team. That’s going to be a big aspect of our game, so go out there and use that. We’re here to go far, that’s our goal.“The only regrets you can have coming away from tournaments is that you didn’t go for it. You can make mistakes. You can miss penalties like I’ve missed. But I don’t think those are the moments that stop you from sleeping at night.“It’s the ones where you feel like you could have given more, you could have been a bit more free, you could have just gone for it. When you lose, you lose anyway. I’d rather lose giving it everything, showing my best abilities, whether you make mistakes or not. The message is just to be free and don’t be afraid of any outcome. Then, we’ll have a great chance.”

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Surely nobody expected anything different. Erling Haaland arrival on the biggest football stage of all involved a match-defining performance. Kylian Mbappé had laid down a marker with two goals in France’s win over Senegal. Haaland responded in kind, courtesy of a first-half double of his own. The Manchester City striker’s quest for the Golden Boot depends on Norway enjoying a decent run in the event. Their hopes for that extended stay are so hugely reliant on Haaland. Theirs is a powerful combination. The name on the back of the shirt is different for club versus country – Haaland becomes Braut Haaland – yet the output is identically ruthless. This is a 25-year-old you simply cannot take your eyes off. Iraq did that twice and suffered as a consequence.The team who had waited 28 years for a World Cup return saw off the one who had not participated for 40. Iraq emerge with great credit from a match where the more than 30 world ranking places between the sides was not particularly obvious. Norway will need to improve, especially in the defensive third, where they looked occasionally shaky. Mbappé will have taken note, with France to face Norway in the final game of this section. Yet this was Haaland’s day. Martin Ødegaard was less visible than his fellow A-lister, albeit the Arsenal man created his country’s third goal. The captain was substituted shortly afterwards, as if to save him for sterner tests.Even in the final seconds of stoppage time, Haaland’s work was not done. His looping header from a Kristoffer Ajer cross made Aymen Hussein panic sufficiently under pressure from Kristian Thorstvedt to bundle the ball into his own net. Norway’s win had glass applied.It took a little over two minutes for it to become apparent what everybody bar a small band of Iraqis had come to see. Antonio Nusa played a glorious high pass ahead of the marauding Haaland. More than 60,000 people gasped. Uncharacteristically, the No 9 was unable to get the ball properly under control, but the ripples of excitement were obvious. Four minutes later, Haaland left Zaid Tahseen for dust before being unable to pick out Alexander Sørloth for what would have been a tap-in. Iraq responded through Ali al-Hamadi, who scooped a decent chance over the bar.Norway are a team who have split opinion before this tournament. Underrated or overrated? Both views have been widely articulated. The star appeal of Haaland and Ødegaard sets them apart – and is hugely impressive for a nation of fewer than 6 million people – but there is also a clear depth of talent. Nusa was particularly lively here. Oscar Bobb, who would walk into decent international teams, was named among Norway’s substitutes. This is rightly, then, portrayed as a golden generation of Norwegian footballers. With that comes expectation and pressure, especially against opposition as underwhelming as Iraq. The journey of Iraq to reach the World Cup, both in respect of playing more qualifying games than any other nation and logistical challenges imposed by the Middle East war, is worthy of huge credit. Nonetheless, it will be a shock if they do not finish bottom of Group I.The record books will show that Haaland’s moment, inevitably the first of many on this stage, arrived in the 29th minute. Nusa, who was bamboozling Iraq with his every touch, fed David Møller Wolfe. Haaland beat a path to the back post, from there he converted Møller Wolfe’s cross from all of two yards out. Cometh the hour. Haaland’s statistics remain absurd: this was his 11th goal in the same number of recent competitive outings for Norway. The record was to become even better.What happened next was not in the script. Iraq became the latest underdogs to provide tremors in this World Cup. Not only was their equaliser of great quality, it served as the finest moment in the country’s brief World Cup history. Back in 1986 Iraq scored only once, in the 2-1 loss to Belgium. This one was a cracker. Ali Jassim found Amir al-Ammari, who stood up a cross. Hussein was never the favourite to win the ball but outjumped a clutch of Norway defenders to plant a magnificent header past the diving Ørjan Håskjold Nyland. The scale of euphoria perfectly depicted the significance of the goal.Haaland is prolific enough without opposition players teeing him up. Iraq could only hold on to parity for barely three minutes, the consequence of a crazy act of self-harm. For reasons known to himself, Jalal Hassan paused rather than rushing to boot a back-pass clear. Haaland spotted the goalkeeper’s uncertainty, weird as it was for a player who has amassed more than 100 caps. Haaland’s shot rebounded from the goalkeeper then back from himself to restore Norway’s lead.Iraq could count themselves unfortunate to be behind at the break. Møller Wolfe’s magnificent block denied Ibrahim Bayesh. In the final act of the half, Akam Hashem’s half-volley dipped just inches over Nyland’s bar.The second period quickly lapsed into the instantly forgettable category. Hussein Ali could not keep a back-post volley low enough to trouble Nyland. Haaland could never be described as peripheral but Iraq could take heart from the fact Norway’s phenomenon had no chances between half-time and the hydration break.Leeway for Norway was provided by a substitute. Leo Østigård leapt highest to meet Ødegaard’s corner, with Iraq not unreasonably questioning the level of grappling in the vicinity of the scorer.Hassan saved from Haaland, denying the striker a hat-trick and the usurping of Mbappé. This time, at least. Haaland is up and running.

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It's been a strange season for Kylian Mbappe. Plenty of goals, no trophies and criticism from his home fans. But when the lights of the World Cup shine, nothing else matters.Having watched the likes of Vinicius Junior and Lamine Yamal fail to guide their teams to victory over the start of the tournament this summer, he made sure not to follow suit in remarkable style.France flattered to deceive in the opening 45 minutes in their opening game against Senegal. If anything, they were lucky to be level going into the break. Their only real bright spark was the Madridista, whose touch let him down in the final third.Maybe that was a case of rustiness. By the second half, Mbappe was his frightening, electric best.When you have Ballon d'Or winner Ousmane Dembele and hopeful Michael Olise sacrificing their games for you, it proves your special. And there may be no player more special than 'World Cup' Mbappe.How the 27-year-old didn't win a penalty following a lunge by Sadio Mane remains baffling despite the result. He had beaten the former Liverpool man all ends up in a snippet of what could come this summer.Despite the controversial decision, he didn't let it affect him. He dusted himself off and five minutes later had given Les Bleus the advantage. His opener may not have been as eye-catching as what would follow, but a smart first-time finish on the swivel as the goalkeeper closed down the angle showcased his natural finishing ability.World Cup 2026 fixture schedule - your day-by-day guideWorld Cup 2026 dates, venues and expanded formatThen came the showstopper. The icing on the cake. Having watched PSG youngster Ibrahim Mbaye pull one back with a thunderous stoppage-time strike, Mbappe decided he was not to be shown up.From all of 35 yards out, the Frenchman mimicked his idol Cristiano Ronaldo's goal for Manchester United against Porto in 2009. One touch to get the ball out of his feet, another to find the top-left corner.The strike had an xG of just 0.02. Putting it simply, he had just a two per cent chance of finding the net there. Yet that shouldn't be a surprise. Mbappe has made a career of doing the unthinkable at the World Cup.In his debut tournament, he stole the show as a teenager. While Didier Deschamps' team was star-studded, he was the jewel in the crown to take them to the trophy in Russia while being named young player of the tournament.Four years later in Qatar, it was more of the same from an evolved Mbappe. While it didn't lead to a retention of the trophy, he capped things off with a World Cup final hat-trick. Only Sir Geoff Hurst had managed such a feat before him.His second goal etched his name in France history, as he overtook Olivier Giroud as France's all-time top scorer with 58 goals. But that isn't the only goal record he will be hoping to hold come the middle of July.In two full tournaments and one extra game, Mbappe is just two goals away from equalling Miroslav Klose's record of 16 goals. To think, he could still have another two tournaments in him at least to break and extend that.It's early days in this edition of the world's most famous tournament, but the France No 10 is already staking a claim as the greatest World Cup performer of all time. More of this, and the crown will be undeniable.Even some of the greats of the game have had to bow their head to Mbappe's greatness.Speaking in the aftermath of his game-winning double against Senegal, Wayne Rooney described his efforts as "absolutely incredible"."Mbappe is an absolute superstar," he said on BBC Sport. "I said at half-time, you are quite lucky as a forward because you can have a 45 minutes like he had in the first half and be disappointing, and then you can come out and have a second half like he just had."He's absolutely incredible. No doubt throughout this tournament he will go on to be the greatest World Cup goalscorer of all time."

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What about Algeria? Even Maher Mezahi isn’t sure what to expect.double quotation markAlgeria are one of this World Cup’s great unknowns. On paper, this team has an impressive recent record: a friendly victory over the Netherlands made it 21 wins, four draws and three defeats from 28 matches under Vladimir Petkovic, with 67 goals scored. The problem is that it has been achieved against generally poor-quality opposition. Algeria’s qualifying campaign was a breeze, with Guinea and Mozambique – both considered Pot C sides on the continent – being their sternest tests.We can be pretty sure Petkovic will lean on his players’ technical quality, play attractive football, but leave gaps in behind the defence. What we don’t know is which players will be called upon for half the starting positions.

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While Kylian Mbappe grabbed the headlines by scoring a double to become France's all-time top scorer, it was Michael Olise who topped your player ratings in their World Cup opener against Senegal.Olise was moved from the right wing to a more central position in the second half and unlocked the Senegal assist by providing the assist for Mbappe's opener in a 3-1 win for Didier Deschamps' side."By re-adjusting Olise's position to a more central one and closer to Mbappe, we can see the good understanding that they can have," former France forward Olivier Giroud told BBC One."The freedom Olise can have in that position playing higher up the pitch, [and Ousmane] Dembele can do the job on the side one v one, so [that means] Deschamps has a lot of options."Olise scored 8.01 out of 10, with Mbappe third in the rankings on 7.27, behind Bradley Barcola (7.99).After the opportunity to rate players has closed, the score displayed represents the average from all the submissions by BBC Sport users.

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ShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleGautam BhattacharyyaSports WriterWill India ever play at the Fifa World Cup?The familiar lament that Indian football fans have learnt to live with is back after the "greatest show on earth" kicked off last week.For those tracking the fortunes of the Blue Tigers - as the Indian men's national football team is called - over the years, the question is one of the biggest clichés as the country has never progressed beyond the preliminary rounds of Asian zone qualifiers.The irony, however, lies in the manner in which the World Cup is celebrated in a number of football-crazy Indian states such as West Bengal, Kerala and Goa - or in the growing number of accredited Indian journalists covering the event on the ground despite the country having no stakes in the competition."We have faced frequent questions in the press box as to whether India plays football. Most of them know us as a cricket-playing nation," joked a senior Indian football writer who has covered four World Cups.It's not just India - neighbour China, the world's second-most populous country, has also not qualified for the World Cup again. Fifa, however, is well aware of the importance of these markets, prompting it to dispatch a high-powered media rights team to India to secure a last-minute broadcasting deal for live coverage of the matches.So will a place in the World Cup continue to be a bridge too far for India?Baichung Bhutia, former national team captain and arguably one of the biggest names in Indian football, thinks it's not impossible - though there are no shortcuts."Yes, India can definitely play [in the World Cup] as nothing is impossible. The quota of Asian teams have gone up to eight [along with a ninth team in Iraq which came through from confederation play-offs this time] in the bigger 48-team format, where teams like Uzbekistan and Jordan are playing. However, it will require a lot of hard work," he said.Bhutia added that there was no dearth of talent in a big country like India."What is lacking is the right ecosystem as we don't have a serious grassroots programme with a long-term vision. It's the most popular team sport in the world and we will need time for the results to show,'' said Bhutia.Shyam Thapa, 78, who helped India win bronze at the 1970 Asian Games - the country's last major continental success - also emphasised the need for a sustained grassroots programme, saying the key was to bring more children into the game.The trace of irritation in his voice was unmistakable. Thapa, a canny striker famed for his bicycle-kick goals, lamented that middle-class and upper-middle-class parents were increasingly steering their children away from football and towards cricket.''I have run a youth academy myself for years and can vouch for the fact that the more young children take to the game, the more the chances of finding brighter talents. However, what has the All India Football Federation (AIFF) done to set such a system in motion?''He added that many Indian parents were taking their children to cricket coaching camps, hoping they would get a "lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL cricket tournament) contract"."They need to understand that there can be good money if they can make a career in football too,'' he said.A closer look at the nine teams from the Asian continent which made the cut for the World Cup this year shows the enormity of the task that lies ahead of India.They are Australia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, South Korea, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Iraq (via inter-confederation play-offs) - with Jordan and Uzbekistan making their long-awaited debut.Both debutants are, incidentally, ranked well above India in the current Fifa standings.Uzbekistan are 52nd in the world and Jordan 63rd, while India have slipped to 136th after a sharp decline over the past 18 months.The rankings underscore the scale of the challenge facing Indian football. As Kalyan Chaubey, the first former footballer to become AIFF president, said after taking office in 2022: "I will not sell dreams like India will play in the World Cup in eight years. Instead, I will say we will take Indian football forward from its current condition."Nearly four years on, the question is whether his administration has succeeded in that.Far from fast-tracking Indian football, many believe the past three years have turned the AIFF into an object of ridicule.In 2014, the federation had launched a domestic club-based tournament, the Indian Super League (ISL), with much fanfare, pulling in big names from business, Bollywood and cricket. It was professionally run and attracted good foreign players. But now its future is uncertain.The latest season of ISL was severely delayed after the AIFF failed to attract any bidders for commercial partnership, leaving hundreds of footballers facing anxious futures and generating a torrent of negative publicity.Finally, the federation was forced to run a curtailed version without any commercial partners and has now gone back to the drawing board for the next season.Against this backdrop, Chaubey's Vision 2047 - an ambitious roadmap that promised to bring 35 million children into football - increasingly resembles a forgotten campaign pledge. And the disconnect between lofty targets and on-field results has only grown starker.A brief resurgence in 2023 saw the senior men's team climb back into Fifa's top 100 after winning an invitational tournament and the SAFF (South Asian Football Federation) Championship. Since then, however, the gains have largely unravelled.After raising hopes of reaching the third round of the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup for the first time, the team fell short and then failed dismally to qualify for next year's AFC Asian Cup.In the near term, a ticket to the Asian Cup - which has 24 top teams from the continent in the fray - is the immediate priority.In an informal chat with media a few years back, former captain Sunil Chettri, who came back from retirement in 2025, said that one has to set realistic goals.''We need to take one step at a time and right now, our goal should be to qualify for all Asian Cups as it will help us play against stronger opposition. Once we can establish ourselves among the top 15-20 Asian countries, then only can we think of raising the bar for the World Cup,'' he said.For the moment, the outlook remains bleak, though the AIFF leadership has been pushing hard for a policy change that would allow overseas citizens of India - also known as an OCI cardholders - to play for India.At present, players of Indian origin holding foreign passports must renounce that to represent the country. Australia-born Ryan Williams did exactly that and quickly demonstrated his value with an impressive start in Indian colours.If such a policy change is implemented, it could make a significant difference.At this World Cup alone, four players of Indian origin are representing other countries: Tahsin Mohammed for Qatar, Nishan Velupillay for Australia, Sarpreet Singh for New Zealand and Samuel Moutoussamy for Congo.For now, however, all that is still in the realm of possibility.Until then, Indian fans will once again watch from afar, cheering the Messis, Ronaldos and Neymars of the world, while marvelling at the achievement of nations such as Curaçao, the smallest country ever to reach the World Cup.The inevitable question will linger: if Curaçao can do it, why can't India?