Key events
It seems very odd to be doing a minute-by-minute at this time of day. The match kicks off at 10am GMT. What is the earliest you have been to a professional football match? I remember Man City once played Everton in an 11.30am kick-off (or similar).
What’s happening today in the World Cup? Let the Guardian tell you …
Louise Taylor has written about former Liverpool and West Ham defender Rigobert Song, who is now the Cameroon coach.
Hello!
There are some big hitters entering the World Cup fray today: Brazil, the unemployed Cristiano Ronaldo, to name but two. There are few big hitters, however, than Xherdan Shaqiri’s calves. The Swiss international has 109 caps to his name in his 31 years. Experience is a theme of this Switzerland squad; there are three players with a century of international appearances to their name, not to mention Haris Seferovic on 98 and 33-year-old Yann Sommer. It helped them defeat France in the Euros to reach the quarter finals. They made it out of the group at the past two World Cups, so will come into this feeling relatively confident.
Obviously, the fact Brazil are also in Group G makes this a must-win game for Switzerland and Cameroon. The Africans are not at their historic best but there is plenty of quality running throughout the side. From Andre Onana in net to the in form Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting at the other end of the pitch, Cameroon can give most teams a game of their day. The finished third in last year’s Africa Cup of Nations, so they know how to progress in a tournament. They arrive in Qatar ranked 43rd in the world, 28 below Switzerland, which is a slight indication of the difference between the two teams but I think the gap is not as large as Gianni Infantino’s boffins think.
Let’s hope for a decent game to get Group G off to a fine start.
Kick-off: 10am GMT
