“It may be 33-34 degrees in Houston,” says Leo Addor, “but NRG Stadium is a covered NFL facility with AC. In fact, the guys pitchside on Globo Brazilian TV estimated it’s about 21-22 degrees where they stand. So the heat is not a factor here.”

Point taken – I did add AC after writing that. Glad to hear it’s 21, not 15. My last experience in an American stadium was reviewing Taylor Swift in Phoenix, Arizona. On a sweltering evening, it was so cold inside the stadium that I very nearly bought a Taylor Swift hoodie.

And now we have an email from Brazil. “Love the minute-by-minute reports,” says Tiago Maranhao. Thanks! “I’m writing from Ponta Grossa just to let you know that here in Brazil a knockout stage is called a ‘mata-mata’ stage (‘mata-mata’ would translate as ‘kill-kill’).

“Also, that 3-2 was the first (and only) time we lost a match after leading 2–0. By the way, here’s another bit of Brazilian football slang: when a team loses a match after scoring the opening goal, we call it a ‘virada’ (a turnaround).

“Japan is looking sleek, and this is probably the worst squad we’ve ever sent to a World Cup, but, still, I think we’ll beat them, 3-1.” A consensus seems to be emerging.

We have an early email! It’s from Krish Krishnamoorthy, an old friend of this parish. “Japan is not against Brazil,” he says firmly, “but against Don Carlo today and that would make all the difference. I predict a 1-3.”

You may well be right, Krish, but let’s not forget the man whose hand Ancelotti will shortly be shaking. Hajime Moriyasu has been Japan’s manager for eight years and has won no fewer than 74 of his 107 games in charge, if his Wikipedia page is to be believed.

The last (and first) World Cup match I covered took four hours. That was France v Iraq, the game that, thanks to lightning in Philadelphia, had a two-hour half-time. But lightning doesn’t strike twice and the BBC forecast assures us that Houston will be “sunny with a gentle breeze”. Quite toasty too: 33 or 34 degrees – but the NRG Stadium has air-con.

This place hosted five group games, divided into two distinct types. Three were thrashings: Germany 7-1 Curacao, Netherlands 5-1 Sweden, Portugal 5-0 Uzbekistan. But the other two were cagey affairs: Portugal 1-1 DR Congo, Cape Verde 0-0 Saudi Arabia. Can we agree that today’s game could go either way?