World Cup latest, build-up to Thursday games & England news

1. Thursday's matches: Canada v Morocco, Croatia v Belgium (15:00 GMT)
2. Costa Rica v Germany, Japan v Spain (19:00)
3. England's Declan Rice in news conference ahead of Sunday's last-16 match v Senegal
4. Rice says England should be feared at World Cup
5. Uruguay's Suarez refuses to apologise for Ghana handball in 2010
6. Reaction as Argentina and Poland qualify

Goodbye

That's all from us for today.

We'll be back tomorrow with all the reaction to this evening's Group E and F games.

But for now, make sure you take a look at some of the key stories from today, and there are some brilliant videos to watch too:

• Declan Rice says England should be feared
• Suarez refuses to apologise for Ghana handball in 2010
• Can Germany escape humiliation?
• Female refs 'a positive message' in Qatar

As always, thank you for your company!

You can watch live coverage and follow text commentary of Canada v Morocco and Croatia v Belgium here.

World Cup 2022: Who will make England's starting 11? Jenas & Richards analysis

World Cup 2022: What's it like being a barber for footballers?

Meet the viral 'metro man' helping fans at the World Cup

Match of the Day Top 10: Was Luis Suarez handball against Ghana cheating or selfless?

Zabaleta's City jibe at Ferdinand

Pablo Zabaleta picked an old scab for Rio Ferdinand during post-match commentary of Poland v Argentina.

During a studio conversation about goal difference, the former Argentina and Manchester City right-back took an opportunity to bring up the 2011-12 Premier League title race. That campaign ended dramatically with City pipping Manchester United to the trophy by a single goal from Sergio Aguero on the final day of the season.

Mexico were eliminated from Group C on Wednesday on the basis of goals scored. During the match, the permutations kept shifting - with both Poland and Mexico playing simultaneously and knowing that their fates could be sealed elsewhere.

Discussing what it's like to be involved in those sorts of matches as a player, Zabaleta, 37, couldn't resist dredging up a painful memory for Ferdinand.

Meanwhile, Ferdinand's reaction was priceless, saying, "he's brought up the City stuff, with Aguero's goal. He's out of order."

Ferdinand then told Zabaleta, "you've got to go now."

Still smarts.

Zabaleta brings up a sore point for Rio

Messi showed he is human on Wednesday

Even Lionel Messi makes mistakes sometimes.

Despite missing a penalty in the first-half, the 35-year-old Argentina forward was absolutely spell-binding at times during Wednesday's clash with Poland - dictating the play.

Nevertheless, a miscued shot during the second-half showed that even seven-time Ballon d'Or winners have the capacity occasionally to scuff one.

Messi as you've never seen him before

'Denmark have been a hard watch'

Peter Schmeichel

Former Manchester United goalkeeper on BBC Radio 5 Live

Getty Images

The three games Denmark played have been a hard watch, I don't know what happened to this team but its clear something hasn't been right. You could argue that a couple of big players haven't really taken part, Simon Kjaer and Thomas Delaney have barely featured and they are big, big players for Denmark.

They didn't create chances or score many goals and if you don't score goals you can't win. I think yesterday was particularly difficult because the coach Kasper Hjulmand tried to put out an attacking line-up to create chances and score goals and the team did neither.

Depay fit for Netherlands

Netherlands boss Louis Van Gaal has been speaking to the media ahead of their last-16 tie against the USA on Saturday.

"I know from experience that matches against countries such as the United States and Australia, are always very difficult," said the former Manchester United boss.

“They are very fanatical and sharp on the ball."

Dutch striker Memphis Depay has put his hamstring injury concerns to bed, after starting in their 2-0 win against Qatar on Tuesday, to top Group A.

“I'm fit. The knockout phase is serious business. We are past the group phase, we can now not afford to slip into it," said Depay.

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Germany plan 'to kill game off early'

Four-time winners Germany went out in the group stage as holders in 2018, their earliest exit in 80 years, and coach Hansi Flick says he has no plans to step down if they suffer another early exit.

"I have a contract until 2024 and I look forward to the home Euros (in 2024) but it is a long time until then," said Flick, who took over from Joachim Low in August 2021.

"We want to kill off the game early to pile pressure on the other group game. We have to have the attitude we showed against Spain."

Leroy Sane could start for Germany after the winger recovered from a knee problem to play as a substitute in the 1-1 draw with Spain.

Read more here.

Getty Images

'Oh my goodness'

This has got to be a contender for goal of the tournament so far, surely?

Sublime.

'Free kick perfection!' Luis Chavez doubles Mexico lead

Pulisic doubt for USA

Christian Pulisic is a doubt for the USA when they face the Netherlands in the last 16 on Saturday.

Pulisic, who scored the crucial winner against Iran, has a pelvic injury and is being assessed daily, according to the US Soccer Federation.

The USA will be the underdogs, but that won't hinder their performance according to coach Gregg Berhalter.

"It's a great opportunity, but it's not something that we're going into thinking is an honour," said Berhalter.

"We deserve to be in the position we're in. And we want to keep going. We don't want to be going home on Saturday."

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Foden fit for no.10 role?

Phil Foden as a number 10 against Senegal?

Thumbs up or down?

Here's what BBC Sport pundits Micah Richards and Jermaine Jenas think.

World Cup 2022: Who will make England's starting 11? Jenas & Richards analysis

'If Scotland can't be there why not watch the best?'

Brian Hendry

It may be 24 years since we last saw Scotland at a World Cup, but that hasn't stopped their fans making their mark in Qatar!

A group of six Scotsmen, all originally from Aberdeen, including Brian Hendry, have made the trip. It's Brian's ninth men's World Cup since 1982.

"We're here just to watch football," he tells BBC Scotland. "Supporting France one day, Brazil the next, Mexico the next, America a few times."

The clan have certainly been attracting a lot of attention in their traditional Scottish dress, with many international fans posing for pictures with the kilt-wearing group.

Shuttle flights cast doubts on Qatar's carbon-neutral pledge

Sameer Hashmi

Middle East business correspondent, reporting from Dubai

In the run-up to the World Cup, Qatar pledged to make this the first carbon-neutral event in the tournament's history. But climate advocates raised serious doubts about its sustainability claims.

So, is Qatar living up to its promise?

Due to an acute shortage of hotel rooms in Qatar, tens of thousands of visitors are staying in neighbouring Gulf countries, including the United Arab Emirates.

A shuttle flight service has been set up to take fans to football matches, with an estimated 500 daily flights in and out of Qatar's capital, Doha. Of those, Dubai in the UAE is operating nearly 120 flights every day.

The Paris-based carbon accounting firm Greenly estimates the shuttle flights have resulted in between 6,000 and 8,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions every day since the tournament started.

Will the 2022 World Cup be 'carbon neutral'?

The immense volume of shuttle flights undermines the organisers' pledge to minimise flying during the tournament, Khaled Diab, of advocacy group Carbon Market Watch, says.

"One of the rationales for having so many stadiums concentrated in a small geographical area was to help reduce emissions related to air travel," he says.

But Qatar has defended its decisions.

A spokesman for the World Cup Organising Committee says its shuttle service has enabled "efficient direct flights to and from the Fifa World Cup in Qatar".

"Direct flights are significantly more carbon effective than flights with stopovers," he says. "At the same time, because of the compact nature of the tournament, domestic flights will not be taken by fans."

• Read more here

Morocco boss hopes an African team will win World Cup in future

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Morocco could become the second African nation to qualify for the group stages at the 2022 World Cup. The Atlas Lions need just a point from their match against Canada in Group F on Thursday in order to join fellow African team Senegal in the last 16.

Morocco boss Walid Regragui has spoken about what this means for the continent.

“Obviously, Morocco is my priority,” he said. “But we’re also African, as Senegal are, as Ghana are, as Cameroon and Tunisia are, so we hope to fly the flag of African football high. Often, we’ve been described as being ‘sub-par’, that somehow African football wasn’t as good as elsewhere.

“But at this World Cup, I think we are showing we can give any other team a run for their money, whether we are talking about European or South American teams."

Regragui went on to talk about how far African football could go in future tournaments.

“I hope in the future, that we will be seeing this from more African teams and why not an African nation winning the World Cup?"

Morocco have already given us one of the major upsets of this World Cup, when they beat Belgium 2-0. Their next opponents meanwhile, Canada, are yet to pick up any points at the tournament. Nevertheless, Regragui has said that it would be a mistake to play for a draw, coming up against a team with "nothing to lose."

Listen: Ghana's quest for Uruguay revenge

BBC

Ghana and Uruguay created one of the most dramatic and controversial moments in World Cup history in 2010, when “the Black Stars” were the width of a crossbar away from becoming the first African team to reach the semi-finals.

Uruguay's Luis Suarez was sent off in the last minute of extra time for handling the ball on the line and then celebrated wildly when Ghana's Asamoah Gyan's penalty hit the bar.

Ghana went on to lose a penalty shoot-out, a continent was heartbroken and Suarez became public enemy number one in Africa.

Twelve years on, and the two teams will meet again at the World Cup in Qatar and BBC World Service's John Bennett delves into why revenge is so important for Ghana's football fans.

He speaks to Gyan, gets the view from Uruguay and speaks to journalists and fans who lived and breathed that epic first match in a special Sportsworld podcast.

Listen here

Cheating or selfless?

Micah Richards, Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer debate Luis Suarez's infamous goalline handball in the dying seconds of the 2010 World Cup quarter-final between Uruguay and Ghana in South Africa.

Do you agree with Micah and think it's cheating? Let us know using the thumbs below.

Match of the Day Top 10: Was Luis Suarez handball against Ghana cheating or selfless?

'It wasn't my fault because I didn't miss the penalty'

Reuters

Earlier we heard from Uruguay striker Luis Suarez, who in his press conference ahead of their game tomorrow refused to apologise for his handball against Ghana in the 2010 World Cup.

Suarez was sent off in the last minute of extra time in the quarter-final for denying the Black Stars a goal with a deliberate handball on the goalline.

Asamoah Gyan missed the subsequent penalty and Uruguay went through after winning the penatlty shootout.

Tomorrow is the first time the countries have met since the game 12 years ago and the former Liverpool striker was unrepentant despite being told by a Ghanaian journalist that some in the African country view him as "the devil himself".

"The Ghana player missed the penalty, not me," he told reporters, later adding: "I don't apologise for it".

"I apologise if I injure a player but I took a red card for the handball."

"It wasn't my fault because I didn't miss the penalty."

His actions in 2010 sparked outrage in Ghana, partly as a result of his exuberant celebrations on the touchline as Uruguay won on penalties. Suarez's side were then beaten in the last four by the Netherlands.

The current Ghana squad have however sought to play down talk of revenge against Suarez and Uruguay, with captain Andre Ayew - the only remaining player from the 2010 squad - saying he wants to move on.

Read more here.

'He's quite famous here'

Do you remember in 2018 when Kylian Mbappe stole the headlines, as the World Cup's biggest emerging talent?

Well, as good as the football has been on the pitch this time round, it's one man off the pitch that is stealing hearts in Qatar ...

Meet the viral 'metro man' helping fans at the World Cup

Germany coach Flick says he's going nowhere

Getty Images

Germany could be facing a second successive World Cup elimination at the group stages.

After failing to win either of their opening games, the four-time champions head into their final match in Group E knowing that they need to beat Costa Rica and hope Japan don't beat Spain.

After such an underwhelming start, manager, Hansi Flick, has come under some scrutiny.

Former player, Philip Lahm, who was pivotal in Germany's last World Cup triumph in 2014, questioned the wisdom of Flick bringing off experienced players Ilkay Gundogan and Thomas Muller in Germany's opening defeat to Japan.

Nevertheless, Flick has said he has no thoughts around being sacked.

“I can only confirm the future from my side - that I have a contract until 2024 and that I am looking forward to the European Championships at home," he said.

“I don’t feel any pressure - and I didn’t feel any pressure after the defeat to Japan. We didn’t have much time before the tournament and the longer we’re together the more we improve."

Flick took over Germany 18 months ago, in the aftermath of a Euros campaign that ended in the round of 16, with defeat to England at Wembley.

Frappart to make history

It's a good sign to see women referees at the men’s World Cup - Frappart

Stephanie Frappart, 38, is set to make history, as the first woman to take charge of a Fifa men's World Cup game, when Costa Rica face Germany in Group E.

The Frenchwoman debuted in the tournament as the fourth official for the Group C opener between Mexico and Poland. which ended 0-0.

She will be in familiar surroundings on the global stage, having been an official at the last two Women's World Cups.

It's an all female trio of match officials, as Frappart is joined by assistants Nuneza Back from Brazil and Karen Diaz of Mexico.

"We know there are some difficulties there for women," Frappart said. "But I think and I hope that this World Cup will help them."

You can read more on this story here.

'Walker can stop Mbappe'

Getty Images

Rio Ferdinand had positive words to say about Kyle Walker on his Five podcast.

"Kyle Walker, for me, is the only defender on the planet right now, who will go 1 v 1 against Kylian Mbappe and back himself," said the former England defender.

"He's got the confidence to do that and the only player capable of doing that."

England could face France in the quarter-finals if both sides win their last-16 ties.

'I don't think England have reached their potential'

Peter Schmeichel

Former Manchester United goalkeeper on BBC Radio 5 Live

You have to focus on Senegal - they are not a bad team at all, they have great enthusiasm and great fans. If you have half an eye on a potential quarter-final against France, that halves your chances.

In all fairness I don't think England have reached their potential, I think the way Gareth has lined his teams up so far have been confusing, but I think when you look at players who are in great form like Phil Foden for example then he doesn't play in the first two games and starts in the third game, there is a lot of pressure.

When I was looking at Harry Kane people have been saying he's not looking right. I thought he looks brilliant. The way he holds the ball up and gets his team up the pitch is fantastic.

But when I look at those players, goals are changing the outcome of the game, England have those sort of players all over the pitch.