World Cup 6/14: Schedule, how to watch, Villa connections, and open thread

Well now that we're to the third day of this whole thing, everybody is bored, right? I mean, what. We've had an own goal to open the tournament, a terrible penalty call, some atrocious officiating in a monsoon, and a plucky bunch of Aussies not getting their due.

Oh yeah, and there was the single most comprehensive destruction of Spain any of us have ever seen. Yawn.

But seriously, today has a LOT of work to keep up with how amazing this tournament has been already. Luckily for us, there are four matches in which that can happen today, including the hotly-anticipated England-Italy tilt. We've got your Aston Villa-centric preview of the day's action here. And be sure to stick around in the comments to keep us company!

This tournament is just the best.

The matches

Any Villa players involved?

Nope! So why not read Tom's fantastic write-up of what Ron Vlaar did yesterday against Spain?

Any transfer targets or rival players I'm probably interested in?

Well, if you're still interested in Hiroshi Kiyotake, the Ivory Coast-Japan match may be one to watch. Kiyotake may not be starting, but there is a good chance that he'll see the pitch at some point. After a tough season with Nürnberg in the Bundesliga, Kiyotake's stock is down a little bit. He can make his name one on a lot of lips though if he can manage a strong performance in the World Cup.

How do I watch these games?

In the UK you can use ITV or the ITV player online. In the US it's ESPN in English and Univision in Spanish, and both have online streaming platforms, while our Canadian friends have CBC and the CBC Sports player. If you live elsewhere, check LiveSoccerTV for listings in your country.