The time has come and the constant speculation and anticipation is over as the tournament has started with Brazil gaining a 3-1 controversy-filled win over the talented Croatia courtesy of a most dubious penalty decision which Neymar converted before Chelsea’s Oscar put the game out of reach. Mexico and Cameroon plus Holland and Spain and Chile and Australia played on Friday too.

Once every four years England braces itself for a month of shattered dreams, false expectation, penalty shoot-outs spent hiding behind the sofa and the almost-guaranteed witch hunt of our star-player-who-failed-to-perform-and-now-deserves-to-be-dropped-forever. The World Cup is well and truly here and I am sure all England fans would gladly take a result like the one Brazil gained.

But, the times, they are changing. England expects , and with a rejuvenated squad, Hodgson’s men are travelling across the Atlantic to finally bring it home. More importantly though, we already knew this was gonna happen, so we’ve only gone and created the finest Live Blog coverage of England’s exploits in Brazil across June and July.

Italy are first up, so why not grab a cuppa, put on your favourite slippers, and settle in for the late kick-off in Manaus with all the action brought to you in our great looking (don’t mind if we say so) Live Blog. The best tweets, Vines, YouTube clips, commentary and stats delivered by the fans for the fans.