05:00

Something of a natural order, if you like, has been restored to the World Cup. How long this state remains is unknown, but after an opening round that contained a number of upsets, it was with a sense of comfort/disappointment (depending on your disposition) that day seven’s round two results went as expected. Not only were the wins for Spain (1-0 over Iran), Uruguay (1-0 over Saudi Arabia) and Portugal (1-0 over Morocco), but the identity of all three goalscorers also came as little surprise.

Diego Costa grabbed his third of the tournament to give La Furia Roja their first win, Luis Suárez opened his account on his 100th international appearance to send Uruguay into the last 16 and, perhaps most inevitably of all, Cristiano Ronaldo thundered home a brave header to put Morocco out.

Ronaldo’s effort, in the fourth minute at the Luzhniki Stadium, was his fourth of the tournament and ensured the already short odds for him to become the tournament’s top scorer were trimmed even further. The coveted Golden Boot appears well within the Real Madrid striker’s reach.

Lionel Messi will be hoping to trouble the scorers for the first time later today when he leads out Argentina against Croatia in Nizhny Novgorod. But before that there is the small matter of two Group C games – and possibly some World Cup fates – to be settled: Denmark v Australia and France v Peru. Much more on those to come in due course.

It’s the usual deal again: I’ll take you through the next three hours, before Ben Fisher takes over and guides you through to the first kick-off of the day – that crunch Denmark-Australia clash in Samara. At which point, we’ll have individual liveblogs as follows:

1pm BST/3pm MSK/10pm AEST: Denmark v Australia

4pm BST/6pm MSK/1am Friday AEST: France v Peru

7pm BST/9pm MSK/4am Friday AEST: Argentina v Croatia

Throughout the course of the day/evening/whatever it is where you are, feel free to get in touch on email (mike.hytner@theguardian.com) or Twitter (@mike_hytner) or below the line. Meanwhile, why not sign up for the World Cup Fiver?