The Official England v Croatia Match Thread (Sponsored by Rehydration Breaks "for all your liquidity needs")

We're five days into this World Cup and it's been a reasonably entertaining start to proceedings with a decent number of goals scored and some hard-fought contests (plus a few hammerings) across the 10 games played at the time of writing.

The host nations have enjoyed a healthy start, Mexico opened the competition with a stodgy 2-0 win against a dreadful South African side, the US looked pretty impressive in dispatching Paraguay 4-1, and Canada earned their first ever point at the World Cup with a late equaliser against Bosnia Herzegovina. Elsewhere, the Germans demonstrated their natural ruthlessness during their 7-1 mauling of Curacao, whose equaliser was one of the highlights so far. Qatar snatched a hugely unlikely injury time leveller against the profligate Swiss, while Sweden have made their mark by thrashing Tunisia 5-1 earlier today. Even the Scots have managed to get in on the party, winning their first game since Italia '90 with a scratchy performance against likely group whipping boys, Haiti. They will need to seriously up their game to get anything from Morocco or Brazil, despite the latter being a shadow of their former selves. 

Aside from the matches, there were plenty of elements at this World Cup that drew scrutiny before the tournament began. To date, the pitches look pretty despite pre-tournament concerns.  The impact of thunderstorm breaks have yet to be felt and VAR seems to be working reasonably smoothly, although the Swiss goal against Qatar did appear debatable. FIFA have decided not to show the replay for that one, so... One minor positive I've found is ref-cam, a nice, if slightly superfluous touch that highlights the speed of play at pitch level and provides a novel angle for goal replays. On the negative side, announced attendances so far bear as much relevance to reality as the need for a hydration break after 22.5 minutes inside a fully air conditioned stadium. Swathes of empty seats at a number of games show that FIFA's cynical pricing points have bitten, denying both home fans and those of the teams involved the opportunity to attend matches as a result of pure greed.

So, to England. Our two warm-up games before the tournament both resulted in victory, a one-sided training match against New Zealand on a dead pitch was followed by a 3-0 win against a combative, if limited Costa Rica side. With some more clinical finishing, the latter match could have ended in a cricket score such was our dominance, Jude Bellingham in particular excelling against the Central American side. The speed at which we knocked the ball around is exactly what you want to see from an England side as their campaign begins.

Whatever you think of the squad selection (and I'd still have Slabhead over Stones), it indicates that Tuchel is not afraid to make bold choices but also highlights our lack of options at the back. As a nation, we used to be blessed with defenders, however, the inclusion of Dan Burn, Djed Spence and Ezri Konsa would suggest that it could be the main area for the opposition to exploit. Stones has barely played this season and Guehi has been in average form, although both Reece James and Nico O'Reilly bring a bit of attacking spark to the side.  

Croatia will provide a stiff opening test on Wednesday evening, the experience of their ageing superstars will be of great importance against our comparatively youthful side. Modric, Kramaric, Perisic, Kovacic have 581 caps and 108 goals between them, although the players coming through to replace them have yet to reach anywhere the peaks of those four. Should the legs go on some of their older players, the options from the bench appear significantly weaker than our own.

England lead the head to head by six wins to three with two draws since the first meeting of the sides in 1996, although they did win the one that truly mattered, the semi-final of the 2018 World Cup. For the highlights, it's a qualifier for the 2010 World Cup and a 5-1 thumping delivered by the Three Lions, a brace apiece from Lampard and Gerrard with a late Rooney strike completing the rout.

Ordinarily, the weather would play a significant part in Wednesday's game at the Dallas Stadium in Arlington given the temperatures are due to be 32C (90F) at kick-off (3.00pm local time, 9.00pm UK). However, the 70,649-seater stadium is fully air-conditioned under a retractable roof (rumours that it was built using discarded ScallyDome blueprints are unsubstantiated) which should provide a clement atmosphere on the pitch and in the stands.

Enjoy the game wherever you're watching, here's hoping youth and the incredible goalscoring prowess of Harry Kane triumphs over the old stagers of Croatia as we seek to win our opening group game for the third tournament in succession.

​Come on England!!!