World Cup 2018 LIVE: England prepare for Colombia, Diego Maradona latest, news, predictions, fixtures, schedule

Sam Allardyce expresses concerns over England squad.

Big Sam tol talkSPORT today that he's concerned about England's ability to score from open play.

"One thing that does worry me slightly is we haven’t really scored any goals from open play. That is a real concern for us." Allardyce said on Sports Breakfast this morning."

“We saw Marcus missed a very good chance and we saw that (missed chances) in the first game against Tunisia."

Allardyce, who had a brief spell as England coach, went on to say: "We have only had Jesse Lingard with a stunning goal and a deflected goal from Harry Kane – the rest of the goals have all come from set plays and penalties so I would be slightly concerned about that going forward against Colombia."

England set for Colombia challenge says Southgate.

The England coach has said that his side will rise to the "fantastic challenge" posed by Colombia and reach the quarter finals.

Southgate believes Tuesday is England's "biggest match in a decade", which is why it would have been "ridiculous" to risk Golden Boot leader Harry Kane in chasing a leveller against Belgium.

Alli pushed to limit on spin bike ahead of comeback

Dele Alli is expected to make a comeback for England's game against Colombia. He recently exercised on the spin bikes with the team.

Alli picked up a thigh injury during the opening game against Tunisia. Southgate opted to rest Alli against Roberto Martinez's group G winners despite his improved fitness, but the 22-year-old looked back to his best on Friday as he was tested to the max on spin bikes.

Alli's absence provided opportunities for the Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who has looked assured the English midfielder in his two appearances in Russia, as well as Fabian Delph who has returned home recently for the birth of his child.

Colombia coach concerned about Rodriguez injury.

Colombian coach Jose Pekerman has voiced his concern about star player James Rodriguez's injury. The Bayern Munich star was taken off the pitch in the 31st minute of Colombia's 1-0 win against Senegal in the Group H finale on Thursday in Samara, Russia. He was seen limping to the sideline before he went straight into the tunnel. 

"I am very worried," Pekerman told reporters. "The situation is tough for the team, it is not an easy situation."

Rodriguez missing the game could be very good news for Gareth Southgate and the England national side.

Deschamps job security.

The president of the French Football Federation has told L'Equipe that French national team coach Didier Deschamps will not lose his job if France are knocked out of the World Cup by Argentina tomorrow.

Deschamps track record with the national side has been good so far. They were knocked out by Germany in the 2014 World Cup and they were the runners up at Euro 2016.

Deschamps signed a contract extension until 2020 next year.

Ronaldo is 50% of Portugal says Forlan.

Uruguay will be "stopping 50% of Portugal" if they contain Cristiano Ronaldo in Saturday's last-16 World Cup tie, says former striker Diego Forlan.

The Portuguese skipper has found the net four times during the competition so far. Uruguay are yet to concede a goal in the 2018 World Cup so far and are the only team to do so.

"Ronaldo is a leader, the way he scores the goals and how important they are," Forlan told BBC Radio 5 live.

Fifa cracking down on counterfeiters.

According to the South China Morning Post governing body Fifa are cracking down on counterfeit tickets after 30 fans from mainland china were denied entry to the Argentina vs Iceland game.

Alexey Sorokin, the chief executive of Russia’s World Cup organising committee, has promised anyone involved in selling counterfeit tickets will feel the full force of the country’s justice system after Chinese fans were denied entry to a match earlier in the tournament.

The batch was among a total of around 3,500 fraudulent tickets allegedly sold into Chinese travel agencies and Sorokin stressed that the tournament’s local organisers would be seeking to punish those responsible.

One in five purchases at the World Cup done via contactless.

According to Visa, in the 11 host cities one of every five purchases has been made via contactless technology. Within the stadiums the contactless payments make up 54 percent of all transactions and on average cardholders have spent $56.65 per transaction.

Additionally, Russian fans made twice the amount of transactions for food and drinks compared to non-Russian fans, however, the average per-transaction amount for non-Russian attendees was 1.5 times higher than Russian purchases in those categories.

Can Messi decide France's fate?

Hugo Lloris thinks Lionel Messi can "decide the fate of the match" if he raises his game in Argentina's World Cup last-16 match against France.

Messi offered Argentina fans a tantalising moment of brilliance with his goal as Jorge Sampaoli's men beat Nigeria 2-1 to avoid a group-stage exit.

Lloris, who earned his 100th cap against Peru before being rested for the match against Denmark, suggested France will take collective responsibility for keeping the Barcelona star in check, with a place in the quarter-finals on the line.

"We are preparing to play in a last-16 game against Argentina, so we have to be at our top level," he told reporters ahead of Saturday's match."

"We've studied their group games, which gives us an indication, but we know players like Messi can step up his own level and decide the fate of the match, as he does with Argentina and Barcelona."

Adidas unveil new ball ahead of knockout stage.

Adidas have launched their "Telstar Mechta" ball ahead of the round of 16. The new design prominently features a red colour pallette and will first be used in tomorrow's clash between France and Argentina.

Adidas say the new red design is inspired by the national colours of host nation Russia, as well as the “rising heat of knockout stage football”.

The name Mechta means “dream” or “ambition” in Russian, and has the same design elements as the group stage ball.