England’s World Cup campaign kicks off in Brazil on day three of the 2014 FIFA World Cup and you can watch their first match against 2006 winners Italy live on BBC One.
The Three Lions get their tournament started in Group D against Euro 2012 runners-up Italy in the Amazon city of Manaus, one of four live games to be shown today across the BBC and ITV.
Roy Hodgson’s side lost on penalties to the Italians at the quarter-final stage of Euro 2012 and were also beaten in the last World Cup meeting between the two nations, in the 1990 third-placed play-off.
What do the 2014 finals have in store for captain Steven Gerrard and his fellow England players? The highly fancied Italians, who boast the mercurial talents of Andrea Pirlo, provide the first test.
Kicking off proceedings on a busy day at the Brazil World Cup is the Group C clash between Colombia and Greece.
The Colombians are making their first World Cup appearance for 16 years, but Los Cafeteros are tipped to do well at the tournament.
Although the serious injury suffered by star man Falcao has disrupted their preparations, they still boast plenty of attacking flair, with the likes of Monaco’s James Rodriguez and Fiorentina’s Juan Cuadrado helping them to qualify in some style.
Their creative skills will be needed against a Greek side who are notoriously tough to break down, though Fernando Santos’s men are not to be underrated, having reached the quarter-finals of Euro 2012 thanks to a surprise victory against Russia.
The other teams in England’s group kick things off in Group D as Uruguay, who have been sweating on the fitness of star man Luis Suarez as he battles back from a knee injury, take on Costa Rica in Fortaleza.
The Liverpool striker was a leading figure in the side that reached the semi-finals in 2010, and with England and Italy to come in group D, the South Americans will be keen to get off to a good start.
Following England’s match against the Azzurri, the final match of day three, in the early hours of the morning UK time, sees the other Group C clash between Ivory Coast and Japan.
The evergreen Didier Drogba will be the focal point of the Ivory Coast attack as he plays in his last World Cup, and he certainly won’t be lacking in support with Yaya Toure – so impressive in the Premier League this year with Manchester City – providing the firepower in midfield.
You can watch all 64 matches from the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil live across the BBC and ITV, with live streaming available online across multiple platforms.
Visit our dedicated World Cup page – sport-onthebox.com/worldcup – for a full rundown of everything you need to know.
SOTB’s TV viewing guide to Day 3 of the 2014 FIFA World Cup:
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DAY 3: SATURDAY 14th JUNE
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| GROUP C LIVE: 4.30pm-7.10pm Venue: Belo Horizonte |
WATCH LIVE ONLINE via BBC iPLAYER
Group C commences with this clash at the Estadio Mineirao in Belo Horizonte between Colombia and Greece, the first of four games on day three in Brazil.
Greece are making just their third appearance at a World Cup finals and they will be looking to progress beyond the group stage for the first time having failed to do so at both the 1994 and 2010 tournaments.
Their record in qualifying was exceptional, winning eight and drawing one of their 10 fixtures, but they still had to settle for second place behind Bosnia-Herzegovina by virtue of an inferior goal difference, and so had to come through a two-legged play-off against Romania to book their place in Brazil.
Colombia also qualified in good fashion, finishing second in the CONMEBOL region to Argentina, and ahead of Chile, Ecuador and Uruguay.
While their home form was a major factor during that campaign, they did manage to claim four victories on the road, as well as a valuable draw away to the Argentinians, although they are without star striker Radamel Falcao due to injury.
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| GROUP D LIVE: 7.30pm-10.15pm Venue: Fortaleza |
WATCH LIVE ONLINE via ITV PLAYER
While England will be busy preparing for their opening fixture later tonight, their fans will have one eye on this encounter, the first in Group D, between Uruguay and Costa Rica in Fortaleza.
Uruguay have been among the top 10 nations in the FIFA rankings for some time now, and while they begin as favourites to succeed here, they will need to perform better than they did in the qualifying campaign.
Having finished fifth in the CONMEBOL group just behind Ecuador, they secured their place in the tournament via a two-legged inter-confederation play-off against Jordan, and avoided what would have been an embarrassing upset.
Costa Rica are one of four nations to have qualified from the CONCACAF region, joining the USA, Honduras and Mexico, and this will be their fourth appearance at a World Cup finals.
In eight previous fixtures against Uruguay they have never recorded a victory, losing six times and drawing twice, with the most recent clash ending in a 1-1 draw in 2009.
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| GROUP D LIVE: 10.20pm-1.30am Venue: Manaus |
WATCH LIVE ONLINE via BBC iPLAYER
Roy Hodgson’s men get their World Cup Group D campaign under way at the Arena Amazonia in Manaus, live on BBC One.
The sides also met in the quarter-finals of Euro 2012, when the Italians were largely dominant throughout, but the match ended 0-0, with the Azzurri progressing on penalties.
The teams faced each other again two months later in a friendly, when England prevailed 2-1, but both sides were far from full-strength.
Since that contest, England have qualified for this tournament in a competent, if unspectacular manner, winning six and drawing four of their 10 fixtures to finish one point clear of Ukraine at the top of the table.
Meanwhile, Italy also earned six victories and four draws from their qualifiers, but they finished ahead of nearest challengers Denmark by six points.
Both teams’ qualifying campaigns will give them hope of improving on poor showings at the 2010 World Cup.
England were thrashed 4-1 by Germany in the last 16, while the Italians failed dismally in their defence of the trophy, going out at the group stage without a win.
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| GROUP C LIVE: 1.30am-4.15am Venue: Recife |
WATCH LIVE ONLINE via ITV PLAYER
Day three concludes in the early hours of the morning UK time with the Group C game between Ivory Coast and Japan in Recife.
Having qualified for just their third World Cup finals, the Elephants will see this as an ideal opportunity to progress to the knockout stage for the first time having also been drawn alongside Colombia and Greece, who faced each other earlier in the day.
Several of the key figures in the Ivory Coast squad, including the likes of Didier Drogba, brothers Kolo and Yaya Toure, and Didier Zokora, who have represented their country with distinction for the better part of a decade, are likely to be gearing up for their final World Cup now they are advancing in years.
Despite their vast experience at international level none of them have ever faced Japan, as this is the first meeting between the two nations, and the outcome is hard to predict.
The Japanese were the best performing side in the fourth round of the Asian qualifying campaign, and boasted the highest scorer in the campaign in Bundesliga-based forward Shinji Okazaki.
ITV’s coverage will also include highlights of the earlier Spain v Netherlands match, in a repeat of the 2010 World Cup Final when Spain came out on top.
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SPORT ON THE BOX’S COMPLETE WORLD CUP TV GUIDE
Saturday 14th June Match of the Day: World Cup Highlights – Day 2 10.30am-11.15am BBC Two COLOMBIA v GREECE Group C – Belo Horizonte | Kick-off: 17:00 LIVE: 4.30pm-7.10pm BBC One URUGUAY v COSTA RICA Group D – Fortaleza | Kick-off: 20:00 LIVE: 7.30pm-10.15pm ITV ENGLAND v ITALY Group D – Manaus | Kick-off: 23:00 Preview: 4.00pm-4.30pm BBC One LIVE: 10.20pm-1.30am BBC One / Replay: 6.05am-7.50am (Sun) BBC Two IVORY COAST v JAPAN Group C – Recife | Kick-off: 02:00 (Sun) LIVE: 1.30am-4.15am ITV.
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