Group stage round one done, Henry's England land 4-2

Every team has now played its opening fixture - 24 of the 72 group games are in the book. Henry’s England 4-2 Croatia was the headline: a four-goal night for his tier-1 pick, and Henry climbs off the bottom to fifth-equal. Richard’s Argentina 3-0 Algeria and Ghana 1-0 Panama stretched his lead to 13 points. Tega’s Austria beat Jordan 3-1 to lift her past the table-of-eight; she still leads on goals for (14) and GD (+6). Nichola’s France opened 3-1 a day earlier and Pete’s Norway 4-1 over Emily’s Iraq remains the only inter-couple win so far. Sophie’s Portugal drew 1-1 with Pete’s Congo DR overnight. Ella’s Egypt sit on a clean point from the Belgium draw.

Today is intra-couple matchday twice over: Richard’s Switzerland v Nichola’s Bosnia-Herzegovina in Group B, and Tega’s Czechia v Henry’s South Africa in Group A - both households face themselves in the same evening. Sophie’s Qatar play Henry’s Canada earlier, and Uzbekistan 1-3 Colombia is already in the book, a neat three points for Emily.

The odds tighten: Richard 21.3%, Nichola 18.5%, Ella 17.2% - three favourites still inside five points of each other. Henry climbs to 11.4% on England’s strong start.