The waiting is finally over.
Football's showpiece event begins in Brazil on Thursday
and you will not miss a kick with Today at the World Cup, our new daily
feature.
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Packed with predictions, key timings, nostalgia and with an added dash of Brazilian flavour, this is your one place to find out everything you need to start your World Cup day.
You can also follow all the latest news from Brazil throughout the day via World Cup Sportsday.
Who is playing - and who will win?
21:00 BST, Arena de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo
BBC Sport's Mark Lawrenson: "Brazil are the hosts and a lot of people's favourites but the pressure and expectation they will have to put up with is massive. I think they will go very close to winning the tournament but it will not be easy for them.
"They will get through their first game without any problems, though. This Croatia side is nowhere near as strong as their teams from previous tournaments."
Lawro's prediction: Brazil 2-0 Croatia
How to follow: Watch live on ITV, listen on BBC Radio 5 live, live text commentary on BBC Sport website. Highlights on BBC One.
One to watch
Silva, who plays for French champions Paris St-Germain, has struck up a particularly strong partnership with Chelsea defender David Luiz at the heart of the Brazil defence.
During coach Luiz Felipe Scolari's time in charge, the Selecao have won 84.61% of the games in which Silva and Luiz have both played. It is little wonder, then, that Silva's club are keen to pair them together at the Parc des Princes.
The key battle
Believe the hype; Neymar is pivotal to Brazil. Full of energy and tricks and able to dribble at incredible speed, he is the player most capable of changing a game for Scolari's side. The Barcelona forward was - as he so often is - the star of the show in the recent World Cup warm-up match against Panama, scoring one goal and having a hand in the others as Brazil won 4-0, taking his tally to 31 goals in 48 appearances.Brazil striker Fred has said that if all else fails, get the ball to Neymar, such is his ability to make something out of nothing.
Caps | Goals | World Cup appearances | World Cup goals | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Neymar | 48 | 31 | 0 | 0 |
Luka Modric | 74 | 8 | 2 | 0 |
Must-see moment
From the day in October 2007 that Brazil was awarded the World Cup, the South American country has been under the spotlight.There have been widespread protests from Brazilians against staging the tournament, while doubts have persisted about whether stadiums and infrastructure will be completed in time.
The answer to those questions should largely be answered at 19:15 BST, when the opening ceremony gets under way at the Arena de Sao Paulo, making that a must-see moment before a ball has even been kicked.
Planning your World Cup day |
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When | What | Where |
06:00 - 09:00 BST | World Cup Breakfast | BBC Radio 5 live |
07:00 - 18:00 BST | World Cup Sportsday | BBC Sport website |
13:30 - 15:00 BST | Rio Report | BBC Radio 5 live |
18:00 - 00:00 BST | Text/audio: Brazil v Croatia | BBC Sport website |
19:00 -23:30 BST | Listen: Brazil v Croatia | BBC Radio 5 live |
19:00 - 23:15 BST | Watch: Brazil v Croatia | ITV1 |
23:20 - 00:00 BST | Match of the Day | BBC Two |
Stats of the day
The host nation has never lost their first World Cup game, with the 20 previous hosts winning 14 and drawing six of their openers.Eight of the last 12 opening matches at World Cups have produced one goal or less.
Croatia have conceded only 11 goals in 13 World Cup games (0.85/game). It's the best ratio among the 32 teams taking part in 2014.
Brazil won their one previous competitive meeting with Croatia 1-0 in the 2006 World Cup; Kaka scored the winner in Berlin that day.
World Cup nostalgia
Senegal's 1-0 defeat of defending champions France in the first match of the 2002 tournament - courtesy of a breakaway Papa Bouba Diop goal - was the start of a miserable campaign for the French as they finished bottom of their group.
Twelve years earlier, holders Argentina, led by Diego Maradona, were stunned as Francois Omam-Biyik's header saw Cameroon open the tournament with a 1-0 win over the favourites in Milan. An abiding memory of that game is Argentina forward Claudio Caniggia being taken out by Benjamin Massing's flying horizontal body check.
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