Coverage of Colombia vs Japan begins on the BBC, and the ninth word after the “good sfternoon”s is - you guessed it - “England”. Followed by ten minutes discussion of yesterday’s game. And Phil Neville still “isn’t having VAR” because England didn’t get a penalty. Never mind the dozen or more decisions it has got right so far, we should just forget it bacause it missed one thing.
Bit tricky for some to concentrate on the opening stages of this as the draw for the Champions League qualifying rounds was taking place at the same time (why the hell couldnt they have done that an hour earlier?) but there was a dramatic opening with a penalty and red card (the second-fastest in any World Cup) after just three minutes which left Japan one up and Colombia with ten men. The rest of the half didn’t live up to that as the superior Colombian side struggled with the numerical disadvantage. Until a clever free-kick from Quintero snuck under the wall and over the line. Why the Japanese players spent so long arguing about it is unclear as the technology confirmed the goal - not that it was required as it was clearly in. But a great response from Colombia.
At half-time we were “treated” to film of the presenters taking a Russian cookery class. No, honestly, we were. I’m not making it up. Borsch it was. Then a taste test in the studio with Phil Neville. I assure you, this did happen.
Japan slowly began to realise that they should be aiming to win this game with the extra man so started attacking with a bit more purpose and got the second. Colombia, with James Rodriguez on, still looked dangerous but couldn’t get a second equaliser.
As Kevin Kilbane told us insightfully, the red card had a huge influence on the game.
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