18 mins: A SHOT! Croatia are gifted the ball in midfield, allowing Budimir to drive forward. Vlasic receives possession on the edge of the box and flashes a shot towards the bottom corner but it flicks the outside of the post and goes wide. This is what we need.

16 mins: I would suggest this game has been poor to utterly dreadful so far. I think I could survive in midfield considering the slow pass at which it is being played.

14 mins: It is edge of the seat stuff as Croatia with a throw near the corner flag. Do not worry as within two passes it is back at the halfway line.

12 mins: No one has broken sweat yet, so there really should be no need for a hydration break on a very mild day. This is like watching a training game where the aim is to not get into the opposition box.

Luckassen plays the most optimistic pass in history and it naturally goes out for a goal-kick.

10 mins: Ayew gives away a free-kick to at least imply someone is will to show aggression.

Perisic chips a cross into the box but Asare has not trouble catching it.

8 mins: Neither side looks committed to sending men forward to attack. I suspect the centre-backs will have seven times the amount of passes than anyone else on the pitch because knocking it around at the back is the order of the day.

6 mins: There is next to no atmosphere inside the stadium by the sounds of it.

Livakovic dallies over a backpass and subsequently kicks the ball out for a throw in panic.

4 mins: Sutalo pings a crossfield but it goes nowhere near its intended target and out for a throw. A rather boring start, if I am being honest.

2 mins: Croatia are knocking it about in extremely casual fashion. Ghana have barely had a kick. A draw would suit both teams, so maybe this will be what happens for 90 minutes.

Zach Neeley emails: “Why wait almost a whole weekend day before starting a triple header? Maybe part of it is their commitment to never starting a match at the same time two days in a row.”

It’s been a long old day, I can confirm.

The players are in the tunnel.

I should probably read these.

The Ghanaians know how to make an entrance.

Since Argentina in 1978, there have been two new winners, and those were France and Spain, from the heart of Uefa, their success based on maximising the advantages of being European and wealthy; no countries have been so successful at industrialising youth production, so much so that they now provide the models for every country seeking to invest in academy programmes.

It’s a touch damp.

The players have arrived!

It must be a big change going from Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City to Carlos Quieroz’s Ghana for Antoine Semenyo. He has not dazzled as of yet, but at least we get to see his long throw.

Obviously, if you’re a touch more mainstream, you can follow England v Panama with Scott Murray.

John Brewin on Football Daily duty? Yes please.

Croatia probably need a draw against Ghana to secure a spot in the last 32, but attacker ⁠Ivan Perisic is confident in his side’s record against African opposition.

The 2018 runners-up and 2022 third-place finishers have three wins and a draw against ⁠African World Cup ⁠foes since 2014, ​including their third-place victory over Morocco.

“That’s something that we commented on,” Perisic said. “And we played against many ⁠teams in the past 10 years, and all of the results were positive. So I believe that this is going to be the same this time ⁠as well, and that we will be playing a very good match, just like we ​did against the other teams.”

England and Ghana ‌enter the final Group ‌L matchday on four points, while Croatia have three and Panama are already eliminated. The question is ‌whether this remains the same Croatia side of the last decade. After a 4-2 loss to England, Croatia narrowly defeated Panama 1-0 on Ante Budimir’s 54th-minute goal.

Perisic is 37 and captain Luka Modric is 40. And even manager Zlatko Dalic admits the performances have looked unfamiliar.

“We need to raise the level of our play,” he said through an interpreter. “We’re ‌not what Croatia can be. So we haven’t shown the best we can, but tomorrow is the opportunity to do so. We never made so ​many mistakes in some of the passes or when we were in the possession of the ball. This is where we had the force and we were really strong, but we seem to be losing the ball easily. We need to be quicker and we need to raise the ⁠level of concentration.“

Perisic also was unsure whether Ghana’s low-block approach, a ​staple of several Carlos Queiroz-managed World ​Cup sides, would continue. “They are ​a very good team,” he said. “Very compact. Perhaps they played the lower block ​in the past ‌two matches. Given ​that, maybe they ​might be changing for tomorrow or something, but we have to be ready for both options.

“But yes, we’re focusing on ourselves and our game and what we need to do. And we need to be a lot better than we were in the past two matches.” Reuters

Luka Modric is yet to find his groove in this tournament. Maybe he will be afforded more time and space against Ghana, if they defend as deeply as we expect.

Pre-match reading courtesy of our very own Adrian Chiles.

Wasn’t Adrian good with ITV News’ Dan Hewitt this week on the radio?