World Cup 2022: What to expect on Day 12

Day 12 - the penultimate day of the group phase and a couple of the big hitters are vulnerable.

In Group F, we have a match-up which could easily have been the final four years ago - this time around, much, much older and more wizened, they do actually meet in very different circumstances.

In Group E, in the evening games, the 2014 champions, in serious bother after the opening round of games, have a chance to properly avail of their good fortune at the weekend.

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We could see a big fish harpooned this afternoon as Belgium likely need a win against the 2018 finalists to book their place in the knockout phase. Disconcertingly, one almost suspects the senior Belgian players wouldn't be too heartbroken by this outcome.

So far, the Belgians have shuffled around the place like men who'd rather be anywhere else in the world. The high-point of their golden generation was reaching the World Cup semi-final four years ago, where they were edged out by France in a dreary game.

Usually, when a team is described as "too old", it is cold-eyed journalists doing the describing and the players in question commonly feel the need to rage against the dying of the light to prove their critics wrong.

But in Belgium's case, rather bizarrely, it is the players themselves who are pushing this narrative, which doesn't feel like a terribly healthy situation.

"No chance, we're too old," was the infamous verdict of their greatest player Kevin De Bruyne, when asked about their prospects of winning the World Cup following the Canada game.

We've had indications that this curiously blunt and negative message didn't go down terribly well in the dressing room.

After the Morocco loss, centre-half Jan Vertonghen sounded rather