Yes, football still has a capacity to stir like little else. Ed Malyon was rather taken by last night’s opener between Mexico and South Africa, which served as an antidote to the circle of cynicism that has surrounded this World Cup.

Despite the issues at this tournament, football really is a global game – even in a nation like Bangladesh, where the national team has never qualified for the World Cup, Alisha Rahaman Sarkar finds plenty of passionate, pugilistic fans.

Here is a reminder of all of the visa issues encountered already at this World Cup.

The head of the Palestinian Football Association (PFA), Jibril Rajoub, is currently in Mexico City, awaiting permission to enter the United States for events related to the 2026 Fifa World Cup.

Despite being accredited, Mr Rajoub is among several international football officials who have been denied US visas or are still awaiting their approval.

Mr Rajoub attended the opening match between Mexico and South Africa on Thursday.

He expressed his frustration to The Associated Press, stating: "I don’t believe that it’s fair to use or to abuse and deny the right of all footballers all over the world to attend."

England’s World Cup opener is still a few days away, but Thomas Tuchel’s first XI seems to be becoming clearer. After a strong performance against Costa Rica, Richard Jolly cannot see how Anthony Gordon isn’t in Tuchel’s best side.

One of the factors the England manager has been most obsessed with is building the right chemistry, but there is now much more to it than gut feelings about personality. There is a science to it, writes Miguel Delaney in his latest Inside Football newsletter

It is the biggest World Cup in history – but one figure looms larger still over it. Miguel Delaney explains how Donald Trump has defined this tournament from conception to culmination.

Andrew Giuliani, the World Cup task force’s CEO, has confirmed Donald Trump’s plans for tonight’s opening game between the United States and Paraguay. “He’s not going to end up attending the opening game,” Giuliani told TalkSport. “As we’ve said, his scheduling is tight. But I know he’s going to be engaged throughout this World Cup.

“But the one thing, having known President Trump for now 30 years, what I can tell you is: expect the unexpected. Always expect a cliffhanger with him. Throughout the course of this tournament, it wouldn’t surprise me if we see him engage more and more with the World Cup.”

Instead, secretary of state Mark Rubio will travel from Washington with transport secretary Sean Duffy and secretary of homeland security Markwayne Mullin.

The World Cup is underway and, according to a new poll, many Americans don't really care.

More than 4 in 10 American respondents to a new poll from Emerson College said they weren't interested in this year's tournament.

The survey was conducted on June 7 and 8 — just days before the starting matches — and found that 45 percent of the 1,200 respondents said they had no interest in the event.