Favorite Belgian drink: The tears of the Russians after that last-minute goal
Arf.
Here's the Wilmot celebratory shuffle
Origi's winner
Again they left it late, Mirallas making a huge difference, injecting pace and direct running. Belgium go through to the last 16 where they had better learn how to press the ball or they'll get marmalised, Russia have to beat Algeria and hope that Belgium beat South Korea.
Final whistle Belgium win 1-0, largely undeserved but they nicked it and go through.
90+1 min Dzagoev and Kersakov lose the ball in the Belgium box and the Devils break like the clappers, Hazard teeing up Mirallas to shoot on the right and he tries to steer it in with the side of his foot, not getting the power to beat Akinfeev.
90 min Bad call from the linesman gives Belgium a corner that Russia get away.
88 min Russia bring Kersakov on for Samedov
85 min The Rip van Winkle Belgians have awoken, Hazard fed by Mirallas on the left of the box and he uses his dribbling skill to turn, drive across the box and shoot across goal, a shot that is deflected wide for a corner.
84 min Origi goes dancing through the area from the right but hangs on a touch too long and cedes a space for Kombarov to boot it off his toe.
83 min The free-kick is on the D of the penalty area, central, Mirallas whipping a shot wide of the wall to the left and thumping on to the post.
82 min He's made to wait though when Kanunnikov handles on the edge of the box, a basketball dribble slap to stop a bounce helping Belgium. On Dzagoev comes from Shatov, I think.
81 min At last, as Tyers sits beside me, it's our second favourite Alan, Dzagoev, warming up.
80 min Shatov and Faizulin work an opening by drawing Kompany and Vertonghen towards the ball before passing to Yeschenko who is darting in from the right and shoots across goal from 20 yards, and wide.
79 min Cramp treatment break. Berezutskiy has his toes turned up. Oucha.
77 min Nice pass from Fellaini out to the left from where the pass is made to Origi on the edge of the box and his shot is blocked only five feet after it left his boot. Belgium are going long, through the kicks of Courtois and the hoofs of Van Buyten.
75 min Russia's momentum is building and building, winning another corner through Kannunikov on the left after a period of oléing during a minute where Belgium couldn't get the ball off them.
74 min Belgium sub, Mirallas (not Januzaj) on for Mertens.
73 min Now Glushakov gets a touch of David Batty vertigo when the ball drops to him on the edge of the box, the defensive midfielder spooning a volley miles over the bar.
72 min Samedov takes the free-kick, curled into the box with his left foot looking for Berezutskiy to glance it in after a diagonal run across the box but he gets too much on it.
71 min Kompany clears and Hazard goes up with Samedov about 30 yards from goal to win the second header, Hazrad leaving his arm on the Russian's neck. Russia free-kick.
70 min Russia break forward with pace, Shatov making a run beyond Kokorin and slipped through by Faizulin's left-foot pass. Shatov, can't get there before the defender but wins a corner.
68 min Mertens has got lost on the left and loses possession in a tight spot when the ball is tapped to him. He has Yeschenko and Berezutskiy breathing down his neck and he can't get past either.
66 min I've no idea what has happened to the Belgium who stormed qualification. Obviously Capello is a wily old wolf but they were rubbish against Algeria for a long time too. Januzaj is going to come on in a second. The non-partisan fans in the ground are booing now.
65 min Nice turn from Shatov, on the right, wriggling away from Vertonghen then cutting on to his left foot and laying it back to Faizulin whose shot rattles the shin pads of Kompany.
63 min We have the possession stats to break down and can pan them for some significance. It's 50-50. Which means?
62 min Russian sub. (It's irresistible isn't it?) Yeschenko on for Kozlov. This is dreary stuff.
61 min Origi has already made two better runs than Lukaku managed in almost an hour, linking up with Hazard on the left but he hangs on to the ball for a second too long after darting down the inside-left channel and instead of finding Hazard he loses possession.
59 min Immediate danger, that is, as Belgium break quickly, pushing the ball up the left to Bruyne vi Hazard. Origi goes down in the box as the cross comes in but tehre was little contact.
57 min Faizulin kills a ball that drops a good 20 yards on his tow in the centre circle, passes out to Shatov on the right. He beats Hazard and finds Kozlov on the overlap whose cross beats every attacker and defender, an outswinger away from danger.
56 min We were having system issues from the beginning of the second half but they have been resolved now. Sorry for the slow updates.
54 min Witsel is booked. Belgium bring onOrigi for Lukaku.
52 min It's all Russia so far, due to Belgium's negligence in not working hard enough to stop Russia playing out from the back without being put under pressure. Russia cross from the right, the ball evading everyone bar Glushakov at the back post. he turns to make himself an angle then floatss neither a cross nor a shot over the bar.
50 min It's gone very tepid again with too mauch space between Lukaku and the rest of the Belgium players who resort to the odd death or glory ball up to him or try to run through the wall of Russia's defence and defensive midfield.
48 min Kanunnikov again begins a Russia attack when a fortuitous bounce off the shins gives him possession when his pass failed to find Shatov. The ball breaks out to the right and Kannunikov runs into Witsel, the Belgium midfielder clutching his shoulder and rubbing his elbow as Kannunikov gets up gingerly.
46 min Both these teams had better second-halves in their opening games and Russia again start brightly, with Kannunikov going on a sprightly run into the box from the left until he goes hip-to-hip with Alderweireld and is penalised.
18.00 Kokorin's miss
17.57
As Phil Collins fans go, Steven Gerrard is among the finest. But should it be his decision?
17.55 No shouts for QPR/Northern Ireland smoking centre-back Alan McDonald. Thought not.
The most famous football Alan can't be anyone other than 'Alan Pardew'. The other Alan of Newcastle might be League's record goalscorer.. He battled likes of Adams, Nevilles, Bergs, Irwins ... Only defenders. But Alan Pardew won a battle against a certain Superhuman turned manager and director who phoned Jesus Christ just to sign some Loic Remy on loan. Quite astonishing!
Half time It's difficult to tell who's playing well and who's playing badly, says Thierry Henry. The replay of Alderweireld's foul on Kanunnikov shows that it was a stonewall, a dry stone wall, a Hadrian's wall, of a penalty. Referee! What sort of thing is happening here?
45 min Russia have really come into the game this past 15 minutes but the entertainment factor has been, shall we say, specialist fare. That's half time.
43 min Dreadful miss from Kokorin who had done all the intelligent work by bending his run between Kompany and Van Buyten. The cross from Kombarov stuck it on his head by the penalty spot but he headed it as if his forehead was the shape of a 50p piece and it flew off in a preposterous direction given he was facing the centre of goal, to the right of the nets.
41 min Corner for Russia won by Glushakov off Vertonghen's shins on the Russia right. Van Buyten heads clear and Faizulin closes in on the dropping ball about 25 yards out and smears his volley high and wide.
39 min Kompany is faced up by Kokorin who is jinking and swaying in hisi run trying to make the defender commit to a side but before he can get the beating of him, the world's only decent human being called Vinny Beckenbauers it off Kokorin's foot.
37 min Ignashevich, whose 100th cap it is today, stops De Bruyne a second before the midfielder unleashed his shoit after a 10 yard dash to the edge of the box. The ball comes out of the midfield morass eventually beween Glushakov and Mertens, just inside the Belgium half, with Russia's No8 kung fu-ing the Napoli winger and giving up a foul.
35 min Faizulin begins a move with a ball spun out to Samedov with Kozlov on the overlap but the ball from Samedov to the right-back is too heavy. Then Shatov has a nother left-foot shot from about 20 yards. It's the sort of shot that needed to be driven low but his left foot must be his swinger as he sort of arthritically bobbles the ball towards goal rather than smashing it.
33 min Just in the interests of north London balance, I don't rate Vertonghen as a left-back either.
32 min Belgium sub, Spurs for Arsenal, Vertonghen for Vermaelen who may have a hamstring tweak.
31 min Better from Russia who have a left-foot shot across the keeper from, I think Shatov. Courtois dives to his right and turns it to the side of the box safe from danger.
29 min Faizulin plays a glorious pass splitting Vermaelen and Kompany for Samedov to run on to about 15 yards from goal but the cross balloons out. That was an Aaron Lennon cross circa 2011.
27 min Excellent link-up play between Hazard, Lukaku and Mertens ends with the right-winger again getting the better of Kombarov but the cross getting the better of him. The TV director shows a replay of Alderweireld's tackle on Kanunnikov a few moments before and reveals that it was a foul, in the box, that the referee did not see as such.
25 min Nice switch diagonal pass from De Bruyne who has gone forgaing in the centre circle. He leans back and chips it out to the right, to Mertens, who else. The winger makes a mug of Kombarov, beating him on the outside, but his low cross is then easily dealt with.
23 min Alderweireld heads the back of Kannunikov's head and sees tweeting birds for a moment.
21 min Mertens again with a run and shot from the right, the angle too tight, when he had no other option because Lukaku is too hesitant about getting into the box. He seems to feel a magnetic repellent on the 18-yard line.
20 min Russia play keepball for a good 50 seconds until Ignashevich goes on a mazy run then tries to slip a pass 40 yards up to Kokorin which is cut out by Van Buyten who passes to fellaini. The ball is shovelled to Mertens 30 yards from goal and he sets off ana run, veering right from the centre to make the angle around Berezutskiy and he spanks a shot, slicing across it as Kombarov approached and spinning it wide.
19 min Belgium again threaten on their right through Fellaini, Mertens and Lukaku but the cross, the crucial part of the lightning raid, is woefully imprecise.
17 min Kokorin asks for a foul when he falls after colliding with Kompany. The ball through the middle from Glushakov was a dangerous one, but Kompany adjusted out to his left to block the run.
15 min De Bruyne sets off on a diagonal run from inside his own half and makes 50 yards, making a decent pass to Mertens on the right. He centres but Akinfeev cuts out the cross before Lukaku can get his foot in.
13 min The curse of modern football - c--- corners - rears its head. Up went Ignashevich and Berezutskiy but the delivery was terrible.
11 min Kannunikov is sticking to his task of helping out Kombarov as much as he can and the pressure wins the ball onthe Russia left, feeding Shatov whose quick feet and tenacity allows him to dummy and dribble across the box, finally flicking a pass to Faizulin who shoots low to Courtois' right and he tips the ball round the post for a corner.
9 min No wonder Witsel went for such a huge transfer fee - he seems to have two and a half lungs. Hazard has the ball on the left, he turns away from goal and rolls it back to Vermaelen, who I've never rated when he plays left-back. He chips a floaty cross to the far post but the keeper collects it easily as the whistle was blown.
7 min Fellaini wins a throw on the left when Samedov closes him down quickly about 30 yards from goal. De Bruyne drops deep from his role just behind Lukaku, hunts down the ball in the centre circle and lets Fellaini run forward, finding him viat Witsel but Ignashevich and Kombarov close down his space.
6 min Faizulin and Kanunnikov are alert to the danger of Witsel and De Bruyne running at them, harrying them all the way until the danger elapses and the ball is on its way back towards the Belgium defence.
4 min Mertens gets the bounce of the ball on the right of the Russia box but Berezutskiy squeezes the space and the ball comes out to Hazard on the left who recycles backwards to Witsel and Fellaini but Glusahkov gets the block in.
3 min A clash of heads between Samedov and Vermaelen causes a delay, with the Russian off with a bag of ice clutched to his head.
2 min Belgium have a corner which Russia clear quickly and break at great pace up the left, the pace coming from the pass rather than the run, and Belgium's centre-backs are still upfield when Alderweireld gets them out of trouble.
1 min Belgium win a throw-in from the kick-off by playing it back to Van Buyten and he cannons his pass off the shins of Kannunikov. There's lots of chat about Akinfeev's howler v South Korea from Jonathan Pearce of all people. Mr Pot meet Mr Kettle.
16.59 We're almost ready. Belgium in red, Russia in white.
16.57 News from the toss: no one gives one.
16.55 Loads of Russians in the Maracana this afternoon given their rousing singing of the anthem.
16.52 Here come the teams. If you sing the 'Partiya Lenina - sila narodnaya' version of the Russia anthem we'll know where your sympathies lie.
16.50 Fabio's 2014 wardrobe consists entirely of navy blue shirts judging by shots of the warm-up games.
16.45 BBC pundit glossary new entries: Attributes.
16.43 I'm debating with myself whether to adopt some shorthand for the Russia names more than 10 letters long and for Atletico's Toby Alderweireld, too. Any suggestions gratefully received.
16.41 Isn't Clarence Seedorf splendid?
16.39 Babb's Adam Hurrey has put together this cheat sheet for today's action. Diego Maradona beat England 28 years ago to the day. Gary Lineker is seeing him tonight.
16.20 The Russia formation is perplexing some of the simplest greatest minds in the football analytics community. When willthose Nobel neanderthals recognise the great work done by football statisticians? It can't be long now until it takes its rightful place alongside medicine, physics, mathematics, economics, literature and peace, can it? Come on Oslo, get with the spirit of the age. Pre-assists > peace.
16.05 The teams are in. Ignore the agency formations for a moment. I'll fix them as soon as I've had a proper look.
Belgium 1-Thibaut Courtois; 2-Toby Alderweireld, 4-Vincent Kompany, 15-Daniel Van Buyten, 3-Thomas Vermaelen; 8-Marouane Fellaini, 6-Axel Witsel, 14-Dries Mertens, 7-Kevin De Bruyne, 10-Eden Hazard; 9-Romelu Lukaku.
Subs 5-Jan Vertonghen, 11-Kevin Mirallas, 12-Simon Mignolet, 13-Sammy Bossut, 16-Steven Defour, 17-Divock Origi, 18-Nicolas Lombaerts, 19-Mousa Dembele, 20-Adnan Januzaj, 21-Anthony Vanden Borre, 22-Nacer Chadli, 23-Laurent Ciman
Russia 1-Igor Akinfeev; 2-Alexey Kozlov, 4-Sergey Ignashevich, 14-Vasili Berezutskiy, 23-Dmitry Kombarov; 8-Denis Glushakov; 20-Victor Faizulin, 17-Oleg Shatov; 19-Alexander Samedov, 9-Alexander Kokorin, 6-Maksim Kanunnikov.
Subs 3-Georgi Schchennikov, 5-Andrey Semenov, 7-Igor Denisov, 10-Alan Dzagoev, 11-Alexander Kerzhakov, 12-Yury Lodygin, 13-Vladimir Granat, 15-Pavel Mogilevets, 16-Sergey Ryzhikov, 18-Yury Zhirkov, 21-Alexey Ionov, 22-Andrey Eshchenko
Referee Felix Brych (Germany)
16.00 Good afternoon. Rare for the tournament so far, but today's opening match between Russia and Belgium fizzles with a number of selection posers. For Russia these centre on Fabio Capello's willingness to turn to the wonderful Alan Dzagoev and Aleksandr Kerzhakov, both of whom gave Russia's hitherto horrible performance against South Korea some much needed impact when they came on from the bench.
Dzagoev, incidentally, is in this author's top five footballing Alans, alongside Hudson, Peacock, Shearer and Mullery. Apologies to Telegraph colleagues Smith and Hansen but I'll try and get away with it by saying Telegraph Alans are not eligible to claim any of the prizes. That should do it. Below are all of Dzagoev's goals and assists during a five-year run with CSKA Moscow. It doesn't include him punching Luke Wilkshire, because, kids, smacking a right-back who cleans you out is not big or clever, even if it is understandable and amusing. There are snippets of it on the internet, though, if you want to do your own homework.
The other question for Capello concerns the tactics he will employ to deal with Eden Hazard. Surely he can't leave Andrey Yeschenko alone to deal with him. There has to be some help from midfield, Igor Denisov, perhaps, pitching in. The weird thing, though, was Russia's tempo during that match against South Korea, how alarmingly reminiscent it was of England's four years ago. Back then there was a suggestion that the squad had trained intensively with a view that they would hit peak fitness during the latter stages, an ambition that proved laughably optimistic. Russia, too, looked leggy even giving the benefit of the temperature, a little too inclined to slow the game to walking pace.
Twenty years ago Capello masterminded the greatest tactical coup of his illustrious career, utterly debagging Johan Cruyff.
What has happened to that bold and innovative thinker? Age brings caution. Riches and reputation have to be defended. Oh, for one last 'eff it, I'll show them who's a defensive coach', hurrah, telling his players to target Daniel van Buyten and Jan Vertonghen, both of whom, to me, look prone to mistakes, the latter especially when playing left-back.
Although we are more likely to see Russia strangling the game and looking to hit on the counter, channelling some of the Athens defiance and courage might be Russia's best hope against a Belgium squad with diverse options. The make-up of Marc Wilmots' midfield was criticised after the comeback victory over Algeria and it will be fascinating to see what he does. Playing Nacer Chadli centrally behind Romelu Lukaku with Hazard on the left and Kevin De Bruyne on the right, looked all wrong.
Rumour has it that they will move to 4-3-3 with the winning goalscorer against Algeria, Dries Mertens, on the right, Hazard on the left and Lukaku through the middle. If Wilmots does go for that then he will have to change midfield too. Does he bring in Steven Defour, or Marouane Fellaini, play De Bruyne ahead of two in a 4-2-1-2-1 or stick with Mousa Dembele? Where does Adnan Januzaj fit in?
It should be intriguing. Wilmots, of course, has first-hand knowledge of World Cup games. Here he is scoring what turned out to be the winner in the Devils' 3-2 victory in 2002.
15.15 Just working out on the grass of Maracana was sheer happiness for Vincent Kompany on Saturday, especially after a groin strain had kept the Belgian captain out for three days. Now, he says he's fit to fulfill his childhood dream of playing a World Cup match in one of the world's most famous stadiums.
Making things even better is the fact that a win against Russia would put the World Cup into the knockout phase after just two games.
Kompany said that the come-from-behind 2-1 win over Algeria on Tuesday 'should give us confidence for the rest of the tournament' and give Belgium the courage to dominate play and look for victory against Russia.
He will have to keep a cool head though and keep the emotion of playing at Maracana from overwhelming him.
Any victory for Belgium will do, said Kompany. Freeflowing play can come later.
'At this point we are not going to prove ourselves with the way we play,' Kompany said. 'The proof will be in the results. ... Traditionally, for many nations, they have to get out of their group first and only then, they make the difference. There is a time for everything.'
But, there is only one time to play your first World Cup match in Rio at the temple of Brazilian football.
'I've done just about all big stadiums in Europe and for me, the two most mythical stadiums in the world are Wembley and Maracana.'
Rob Bagchi will be here from 4pm to bring you build up and minute-by-minute commentary.
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