Today at the World Cup: Friday, June 29

Today’s the first day of the World Cup without a game, with the group stage over – but there’s plenty going on in Russia.

England sealed what some have termed an easier route to the World Cup final thanks to a 1-0 defeat to Belgium on Thursday, with a much-changed side beaten by former Manchester United midfielder Adnan Januzaj’s second-half strike.

They will face Colombia in the last-16, thanks to the South American’s 1-0 win over Senegal, which also helped Japan into the knock-out stages courtesy of their Fair Play score – for the first time in World Cup history.

So the group stages are behind us, and the knock-outs get underway again on Saturday – but the World Cup isn’t going away.

No games… so what else is on today?

A solid 16 days into the World Cup, it’s our first without a game. I know, we’re sad too. But there will be what could be a juicy briefing from FIFA on refereeing, which will likely contain some defence of the often-maligned VAR which has had its ups and downs so far.

Elsewhere, all 16 teams left in the competition will be getting ready for the first round of knockout games, with England’s opponents Colombia training at their Kazan base following their 1-0 win over Senegal yesterday.

Matt Le Tissier is live on Sky Sports News on Friday morning, with Gary Neville due to feature later in the day after 4pm and Sol Campbell ready to give his reaction to England’s prospects in the last-16 when he appears in the studio at midday.

What are England doing today?

England flew back to their Repino training base early on Friday morning, after finishing top of Group G with their 1-0 defeat to Belgium on Thursday.

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Skysports