Round of 16 lineup
Spain vs Russia
Portugal vs Uruguay
Argentina vs France
Denmark vs Croatia
Mexico vs Brazil
Switzerland vs Sweden
Colombia vs England
Belgium vs Japan
Full-time: BELGIUM 1-0 ENGLAND
It was a cagey battle but there was enough goalmouth action at both ends to keep us entertained. Belgium end up as group toppers and will face Japan in the last-16. England play Colombia, and will be fancying their chances if there is no James.
Three minutes of stoppage time
90’ Fellaini comes close to putting his side 2-0 up. Space opened up for him on the left flank and his shot hit the side-netting. England fans still in full volume.
87’ Mertens comes on and drills in a thumping shot from 25 yards out. Pickford dives full length to his right to push the ball away.
84’ Poor delivery from Loftus-Cheek. He had done well to get to the right flank after a superb tackle from Dier put him through. He sends his cross to the stands.
82’ OHH! Fellaini denies England. Welbeck had the ball at the edge of the area and space opened up for him. His left-foot shot, though, was blocked by the 6’5 Manchester United man.
80’ OVER THE BAR. Rashford takes and tries the Ronaldo technique. His shot goes fizzing over the bar.
78’ Welbeck replaces Alexander-Arnold. England have a free-kick from 25 yards out. Delph, Stones, Cahill and Rashford discuss who should be taking it.
76’ Eden Hazard is also warming up on the touchline. No trace of England’s first-timers coming on yet. Henderson and Kane, who was warming up earlier, are warming up on the bench.
72’ England have a knockabout as they try to press for a leveller. Vincent Kompany replaces Vermaelen. Huge cheers from the Belgium supporters.
70’ England continue to surge forward in attack. Once again, the final ball was missing for England as Courtois comes off his line and collects it.
67’ Delph strikes from distance and it goes well wide. Rashford is once again in the thick of things as he tries to get to the end of a long ball. Courtois, this time, comes off his line and collects it.
65’ So close A mistake will do for England too. Vardy won the ball in a dangerous area and put Rashford through. His shot, though, was tipped behind expertly by Courtois for a corner.
63’ Belgium continue to boss possession. Even when England get the ball back, they aren’t doing much with it. The Three Lions need someone to cut open the Belgian defence – it’s something they haven’t done so far.
58’ Bit of a stoppage in play and Vermaelen is back on the field after receiving some treatment on the sidelines.
56’ Vermaelen and Vardy clash heads in the Belgium box and the defender is bleeding from the corner of the eye. The medics rush onto the field.
54’ Belgium continue to attack in numbers. Januzaj once again pins the England defenders in their box. His curler, though, bounces off the English wall.
What a strike from the former Manchester United winger. He cuts in, leaves Rose in the wake, and curls an unstoppable shot past Pickford. What a way to get your first goal. That was good enough to win any game.
50’ GOAL!! BELGIUM 1-0 ENGLAND (Adnan Januzaj)
47’ Rashford poses questions to the Belgium defence. Rashford dashes down the left and tries to curl one to the top corner. It goes to the corner flag.
Some people on Twitter vent their frustration:
We are back for the second half and Belgium are on the ball
Half-time: ENGLAND 0-0 BELGIUM
Very little in terms of chances. Both teams have had encouraging spells on the ball. It was not interesting in terms of entertainment, though. Hopefully, we will be treated with some goalmouth action in the second half.
43’ England once again build something interesting. Alexander-Arnold’s cross was aimed at Delph, who was making a stealthy run but Boyata was alert to see out the danger.
41’ England were building a good counter-attack and space opened up inside the Belgium box, but Loftus-Cheek’s first-touch let him down.
39’ More Belgium possession. England see it out. Both teams relying on quick, crisp counter-attacks to upset the opposition defence.
36’ Belgium stitch a few good passes. Batshuayi tees up Hazard at the edge of the box and the shot flies into row-z.
33’ Loftus-Cheek comes close with a header, that is wide of the mark. Chadil had covered the Chelsea midfielder’s run well. It continues to remain goalless.
32’ YELLOW CARD – Leander Dendoncker goes into the book. Belgium are in trouble now. England lead on fair-play points as it stands.
30’ Alexander-Arnold tries a cross cum shot and the ball goes just over the bar.
29’ The crowd breaks into a Mexican wave as England now have a good spell on the ball. Belgium clear Sterling’s attempted through ball from the edge of their area.
27’ Ohh! England’s defence once again has to take rearguard action to keep the ball out. There is a bit of a goalmouth scramble and Loftus Cheek (?) clears it off the line.
26’ Belgium are currently all over the English defence. They have a sustained spell on the ball and Batshuayi tries a hit from just inside the area. Stones blocks it out for a corner.
22’ Good work by Hazard to win the ball in the middle of the park. Belgium pass from left to right but Chadli wastes it. The attack falls dead.
19’ OHH! This could turn out to be game-changer. Tielemans gets a yellow. England go through as table-toppers if this ends in a draw, remember.
17’ Fellaini comes to the party for the first time – he pulls down Loftus-Cheek, who is powering down the right flank pretty well.
15’ Belgium have a good spell on the ball in the middle of the park. It breaks up following Jones’s clumsy challenge on Dembele.
13’ More shots from England. Cross from Alexander-Arnold and Vardy had a fair bit of space to get the header in. The ball went wide but that was a half-chance for the Three Lions, who have continued to be lively going forward.
11’ Cahill is everywhere at the moment. England get a corner and the Chelsea captain at the back post gets a header, it goes well wide. Who said this game will finish a dour goalless draw?
9’ SAVE! Goal-line clearance from England as Cahill dives full stretch to stop the ball from rolling over the line. Batshuayi made the chance, applying pressure on Pickford and Trippier at the goalmouth.
8’ Both teams waiting for their opponents to commit an error. Belgium are now on the ball.
5’ SHOT! Pickford had to be alert to punch the ball clear. It was a thumping shot from Tielemans from 30 yards out as Belgium launched their first attack of the game.
3’ Good spell of possession by England. They have Belgium pinned in their own half. They attack from the left as Delph tries to free Rashford. Foul given against the Manchester United forward.
1’ It’s England who have the ball and create some early pressure. Courtois had to clear out an uncomfortable low cross with his legs. The Three Lions fans are in full volume.
It’s kick-off-time
The national anthems are done. England have made eight chances, Belgium nine.
11: 15 pm: WHOLESALE CHANGES FOR BOTH TEAMS! England manager Gareth Southgate and Belgium boss Roberto Martinez made sweeping changes with qualification for the World Cup last 16 already secured.
Only goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, John Stones and Ruben Loftus-Cheek kept their places from the England side that thrashed Panama 6-1 on Sunday, with Harry Kane not given the opportunity to bolster his lead in the race for the Golden Boot.
Martinez made a whopping nine changes with Romelu Lukaku, Eden Hazard and Kevin De Bruyne among those left out. If this match ends in a draw, England will pip Belgium to the top on the virtue of fair-play points.
England and Belgium battle it out for top spot on Thursday having scored eight goals each in the tournament. Harry Kane and Romelu Lukaku have tussled for the Premier League golden boot in recent times and it has continued in this World Cup too. Both strikers have four goals each.
Both England and the Belgians have sailed through, winning their two games and are now in the curious situation of weighing up whether they even want to top Group G.
Earlier in the day, Japan and Colombia entered the last-16 in dramatic fashion. The South Americans moved to the knockouts following a 1-0 win against Senegal. The Japanese, who lost to Poland 0-1, moved to the last-16 despite having score and conceding the same number of goals as Senegal. It was fair play (fewer number of yellow cards) that got them through. Let’s hope both teams score today.