• Wilson sparks winner as US beat Brazil 1-0

• Marta slams referee for being ‘main character’

• Riot police surround match officials

United States manager Emma Hayes said she had “an experience I will never forget” after her side’s bad-tempered 1-0 win over Brazil in Fortaleza saw the home team handed eight red cards.

Brazil head coach Arthur Elias and three members of his staff were dismissed towards the end of the second half before police in riot gear surrounded the match officials on the pitch at full-time after further flashpoints.

• Croatia 2-1 Slovenia

• Modric scores on what could be last game on home turf

Luka Modric discarded his protective mask, accepted Zlatko Dalic’s congratulations and half-waved bashfully to a vigorously appreciative crowd. Had this really, finally, been his last official appearance on Croatian soil? The pre-match wisdom had certainly leaned that way, even though the home side’s ageless metronome has given little indication of his post-World Cup plans. It was a suitably romantic narrative to enliven a warm, woozy evening in the country’s far north and, as Modric returned to the bench shortly before the hour, he had already reminded any wandering England eyes of the gifts that still give scant sign of fading away.

Until Mario Pasalic’s spectacular volley, thrashed in with the game’s final action, nobody else had done much to stir local emotions. Croatia depart for the US with questions lingering about form, fitness and formation but at least they were waved on their way with a 2-1 win over a punchy and slightly unfortunate Slovenia. Warm-up games offer a flawed, fragmented picture by their nature but Modric’s putative send-off offered cover for a palpable fallibility that has infected Dalic’s side.

Bellingham will have been happy to take the armband, O’Reilly is a midfield option but Stones looks a weak link

England may as well pack their bags and go home if Harry Kane picks up an injury. The captain laboured through Euro 2024, leaving some to wonder if his international career was winding down, but there is no doubting his importance before the World Cup. It had to be Kane calming the nerves as England warmed up with a win over New Zealand in testing conditions in Tampa.

It was a glorified training game, mainly about acclimatisation for Thomas Tuchel’s England players; unsexy stuff like the right amount of loading, re-connecting with the manager’s principles. But the win was good, too, and it was welcome after the stodge of the March internationals, which had seen the draw against Uruguay and the loss to Japan.

With the temperature peaking at 33C and the humidity at about 40%, Tuchel played different teams in each half and both were too good for New Zealand, who will be the lowest-ranked team at the World Cup.

“I think a medal of some sort will come. I pray and hope that it is the gold one.” Ally MacLeod was never to live down his hubris of 1978. A Scotland loss to Peru and draw with Iran saw to that. Unlike MacLeod, Steve Clarke has never been prone to bold or rash predictions. Excitement will be left to everyone else. Who can reasonably deny them that?

In a last outing before a first World Cup appearance in 28 years, Scotland dismantled Bolivia. Suddenly, worries over a potentially tournament-defining joust with Haiti next weekend evaporated. If Clarke’s men are this ruthless and efficient when the proper stuff starts, they have a serious chance of emerging from the group phase for the first time in Scotland’s international history. This friendly, in theory an exercise in box-ticking, instead gave reasons for huge Scottish confidence. Scotland will remember their first ever game against Bolivia with great fondness.

• Coach unhappy with players’ positional awareness

• Style was ‘not part of our training in last four days’

Thomas Tuchel was unhappy with England’s “freestyle” performance in the first half of their 1-0 win over New Zealand but the head coach was pleased with Jude Bellingham’s impact as a substitute in Tampa.

Harry Kane’s goal just before half-time was the difference in a forgettable encounter at Raymond James Stadium and there was plenty for Tuchel to ponder after his side failed to capture the imagination in their penultimate warm-up game before the World Cup.

• Pre-World Cup friendly updates from 9pm UK time

• Who might England play if they reach final?

• You can email Scott with your thoughts

… and on that very subject, this is great fun / dangerously addictive. Fiddle around, and find out how quickly the draw can get all out of whack when just one of the leading contenders fails to win their group, as they did when I ran my model. Oh Spain, that last-minute equaliser for Cape Verde so costly! The knock-on effect was an all-Iberian quarter-final clash with Portugal, who swept them aside just as they did in the Nations League last year. Portugal went on to the final, where they were beaten by Turkey, who had surprised Germany in the semis. I had Scotland making the quarters, as well, so I wouldn’t rush out to the bookies and lump big on any of this. But yes, great fun.

… so having talked about not getting too far ahead of ourselves too soon, here’s a piece about England’s route to glory, as determined by Opta and their big calculator. Hey, we’re nothing if not a broad church.

• Minute-by-minute updates from 9pm UK time

• Essential guide to all 1,248 World Cup players

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Ewan also wrote our Scotland preview.

Clarke is pragmatic in approach but it will be a shock if he does not start with two strikers for game one against Haiti. Victory there and Scotland have a genuine chance of progression from the first round for the first time. There is also a lingering reason for Clarke to at least appear bold; he was castigated by supporters for negative tactics in a must-win match against Hungary at the last Euros.

A more defensive style is likely and understandable against Morocco and Brazil, who simply put are better teams than Scotland. Clarke’s team can be useful in such a situation; they are excellently drilled and carry a counterattacking threat.

Clarke insists he cannot alter plans on account of potential fitness setbacks.

“Do you want to wrap them in cotton wool and [they] don’t train?” Clarke asked. “You need to work. Injuries are part and parcel of football. When it happens, especially when it happens in the circumstances it happened to Billy, it is really disappointing. Everybody has got to take a deep breath and move forward again. That is what we will do.”

• USA face Germany in final World Cup tune-up match

• Bracketology: predict a path to World Cup victory

• Reach out to Bryan on Bluesky or by email

2 min: An early free kick given to Germany as Nmecha is brought down by Adams. Sané will take it.

1 min: And we’re off! The US kick off and attack from left to right in white shirts and blue shorts. Germany are going from right to left in their all-black strips.

In the early stages, Scotland looked to be opting for something different. That is, heading to a major tournament while completely unburdened by expectation. Little Curaçao were embarrassing Steve Clarke and his team. Scottish Football Association big wigs, who handed Clarke a four-year deal in recent days, were shuffling uncomfortably in the plush seats. Excitement was surely raising in Haiti, Scotland’s first World Cup opponents.

That Scotland played against 10 men for more than a half must be factored in to analysis of their recovery. Nonetheless, the response was stirring enough to raise optimism among a supporter base who will shortly grace a World Cup for the first time in 28 years. The Tartan Army remained in place to afford Scotland a rousing send-off for the US. Victory had ultimately proved as comfortable as should have been the case. However, the optimism was soured by the news later on Saturday night that Billy Gilmour had been ruled out of the finals by a knee injury.

The playing of a Scotland fixture on Merseyside provided a significant boost to the area’s hospitality sector. Questions remain over whether Scotland’s upcoming World Cup involvement can deliver on-field impact. There was improvement and encouragement for Steve Clarke despite Côte d’Ivoire’s success. Yet Scotland still look short, particularly of scoring threat. Clarke, while positive in demeanour and sentiment, bemoaned a lack of “calmness” in front of goal.

This has proved a wholly rewarding stopoff in the United Kingdom for Côte d’Ivoire. Les Éléphants will remember their two wins from two. But for wastefulness, this victory would have been by a grander margin.

It is not a question that Thomas Tuchel wants to entertain at the World Cup this summer but one he had a run at here in what was supposed to be England’s grand Wembley sendoff. Can the team thrive against good opposition without Harry Kane? The answer was played out across an increasingly frustrating 90 minutes. It was no.

It was not all about Kane, who missed out because of a sore foot. But it was easy to conflate England’s lack of cutting edge with his absence. Tuchel had highlighted on Monday the poor goal returns from his other attacking players. They needed to bring more to the party. There was only bluntness.

England lost 1-0 to Japan at Wembley after Kaoru Mitoma’s first-half strike added to Thomas Tuchel’s friendly woes

5 mins: Now Ito is played in on the right side of the area, with Mitoma completely on his own in the middle, but Pickford comes out to cut off the forward’s options.

3 mins: The first proper attack comes from Japan, with Ben White being beaten with humbling ease on England’s right but the cross bounces out of play.

Fresh from a rampant qualification and a win over Brazil, Hajime Moriyasu’s side want to make another statement with a first victory over England

Just before the 2002 World Cup, South Korea played Scotland and England in the space of a few days. A 4-1 win against the former in the second city of Busan was followed by a 1-1 draw on the honeymoon island of Jeju, with the future Manchester United teammates Michael Owen and Park Ji-sung the scorers. These results gave the Taegeuk Warriors the confidence to reach the semi finals.

Japan are not on home soil but have lined up the same opposition, beating Scotland 1-0 in Glasgow on Saturday before heading to Wembley on Tuesday.

Scotland’s followers have discovered there is a drawback to World Cup qualification after all. Nobody who paid – and handsomely – to sit through the sheer tedium of this fixture could reasonably deny that. Yes, Scotland, you can come to the party; but only after a clutch of international friendlies. It is just about worth the trade-off.

Officially, this marked the start of the tournament buildup for the Scots and Japan. It was a game that involved the going through of motions rather than one from which to draw strong conclusions. Japan were the slicker team, as should be expected for a nation which has aspirations of making a proper impact in the summer. Junya Ito ensured the visitors headed towards Wembley in fine fettle, his goal fitting reward for Japan’s enterprising approach.

• Injured quartet join Wharton on sidelines

• Tuchel concerned about team’s workload

Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Noni Madueke and John Stones have complicated Thomas Tuchel’s World Cup preparations by joining the contingent who have left the squad before England’s friendly against Japan.

Tuchel named an oversized 35-man squad for this month’s camp, with a view to creating competition for places before the final selection for this summer’s finals in Canada, Mexico and the USA is made. Saka and Rice were among a group of 11 players who were allowed to join up late, meaning England played an experimental side when they drew with Uruguay at Wembley on Friday night.

⚽ Updates from the friendly at Hampden Park (5pm GMT)
⚽ Get in touch! Email Scott here with your thoughts

10 seconds: McGinn and Tanaka clash heads. Play stops. It was good while it lasted.

Japan get the ball rolling. Hampden roars!

England were disjointed against Uruguay but no wonder – the head coach’s team selection was an act of self sabotage

Before this game Thomas Tuchel had said he would base his starting XI on what he saw on the training ground. Halfway through an evening at Wembley Stadium that felt like being stabbed very slowly through the eyes with a butter knife made entirely from death, ear wax and empty corporate leisure product, it was tempting to wonder about this.

What exactly had the players left out done in training to be deemed ineligible for this England team? Turn up naked? Vomit into a traffic cone? Attempt to stage a game of Cluedo during set-piece practice? Perhaps Adam Wharton had killed a crow and stapled its innards to the dressing‑room door.

Ben White arrived to a chorus of jeers from the England support when Thomas Tuchel introduced him as a 68th minute substitute. Of course he did. There ought to be no second chances for the Arsenal defender in the eyes of plenty of those present. He let the country down when he walked out on the England squad during the 2022 World Cup and made himself unavailable for the next two years.

The real surprise was what happened next. It was one of those paper aeroplane Wembley friendlies, the fans making their own entertainment in the absence of very much on the pitch. Tuchel was happy enough with the collective performance from his scratch lineup, drilling into the finer details, including the players’ work out of possession. There was next-to-no cutting edge, any drive.

Ben White was booed on, scored what looked like the winner, then gave away a stoppage-time penalty. Say what you will, but the man’s box-office

The teams are out! England in that aforementioned red, Uruguay in their sky blue. Time for the anthems. God Save the King we all know about; the Uruguayan one really gets the juices flowing, though. And while we’re on the subject of Jonathan Wilson, which we kind of were, he tells a wonderful anecdote about that anthem during today’s edition of Football Weekly Extra. Just before the 45-minute mark should get you there; enjoy, enjoy. We’ll be off in a couple of seconds.

Uruguay are not heading into this match in the finest of fettle. Jonathan Wilson reports on that 5-1 shellacking by the USA and some Luis Suárez-infused rancour.