SIGNING OFF!
That is it from us on the World Cup Daily blog for today. You can catch the rest of the build-up to this evening’s World Cup quarter-finals
FEELING THE HEAT!
Temperatures in both the UK and Russia are set to soar this afternoon with the mercury potentially reaching 33C (91.4F) at home and peaking at 30C (86F) in Samara around kick-off.
That would make it the hottest day of the year in the UK.
Wow!
CROATIA BRACED FOR PARTISAN CROWD
So, are Croatia confident of dealing with the atmosphere when they face the hosts this evening?
RUSSIA v CROATIA STAT ATTACK
The last two competitive meetings between the sides – in qualifying for Euro 2008 – both ended nil-nil.
The last five host nations to feature in a World Cup quarter-final have progressed to the semis.
This is Russia’s first World Cup quarter-final in nearly 50 years – they last reached this stage back in 1970 whilst competing as the Soviet Union.
Croatia’s last World Cup quarter-final was a 3-nil win against Germany at France 98..
EMPTY SEATS? SURELY NOT!
We’ve just had word from one of our reporters in Samara that there could be up to 10,000 empty seats at the match today!
The Samara Arena stadium has a capacity of 42,000 but only 32,000 tickets have been sold, officially 2,836 to England fans and 3,000 to Sweden fans.
Wow!
ARE SWEDEN STRONGER WITHOUT ZLATAN?
Back to matters on the pitch and here’s an interesting thought:
Sweden failed to reach a World Cup quarter-final while Zlatan Ibrahimovic was involved.
FIRE ALARM AT SWEDEN HOTEL
Well, not a great start to the day for Sweden.
They had to evacuate their hotel in Samara at 8.30am local time when the fire alarm went off.
Nothing too serious – it was a false alarm – but pretty disruptive and something they could have done without!
THREE LIONS ROAR
So, a very good morning to you all.
The sun is shining, the temperature is rising, and England are just a few hours away from their World Cup quarter-final against Sweden.
There’s no shortage of anticipation in the office already and I’m sure there’s plenty of excitement where you are too.
I just love one of the headlines this morning:
‘Mamma Mia! Here we go a-Kane’
It feels a bit like that!
GOOD MORNING!
And then there were six!
And England are one of them!
Sounds good, doesn’t it!
Well, what a day in store. The Three Lions bidding for a place in the semi-finals of the World Cup alongside, France, Belgium and either Croatia or Russia.
In their way…Sweden!
In a just over seven hours time England and Sweden will be kicking-off…wow, it really is that close folks.
Do please stay with us throughout the morning, we’ll have all the build-up as excitement reaches fever pitch.
Well, Lewis Hamilton certainly thinks so.
He is showing his support for England with the hashtag #itscominghome painted on one of the pieces of equipment in his garage at Silverstone.