Mixed fortunes for South American contingent

Fingers crossed Richarlison doesn't.

As regards the waste of time tomorrow, I just hope Calvert-Lewin and Keane are lucky enough to be dropped!

Half-time in the Uruguay - Brazil game, the away team 2-0 up with a deflected goal from Allan's replacement, Artur, and a very nice headed goal from our Richarlison, playing much better tonight than he did vs Venezuela on Friday.

Initially, he looked well off the pace as, with every Brazilian attack, he was back on the half-way line with Brazil approaching the Uruguayan penalty area. But then it became obvious the coach Tite has deliberately withdrawn him to play deeper in a tighter 4-4-2 than their usual 4-3-3 or 4-3-1-2.

Astonishingly, given Uruguay's strength down the years, you have to go back to 2001 when Uruguay last beat Brazil, home or away. Indeed, since 1995, the head-to-head record in Brazil's favour reads:

P 15 W 9 D 3 L 2

Very much on course to become 10 wins out of 16 at the moment.

Less good is his last action was getting his shin and ankle raked by Cavani who got yellow-carded for it.

He has dedicated his goal tonight to the state of Amapà which sits close to the equator where it is permanently hot and steamy.

Why the dedication? Because Amapà – the entire state – has been without electricity for 2 weeks following a fire at its primary power plant.

Richarlison called on the authorities to do more to alleviate the suffering of so many.

Richarlison's Tweet has drawn tens of thousands of loving and admiring comments, further cementing his popularity with his fellow Brazilians.

Assuming that the South American contingent get back to England late Wednesday night, that would give them barely enough time to recoup and train with their team mates. In that sense, moving the Fulham game to Sunday is actually helping Everton.

If true and Carlo reverts to type with his usual failures – Sigurdsson, Gomes, Tosun, Davies etc – then he deserves all he gets. The counter-argument I know is "Well, he has no-one else."

The likes of Gordon, Nkounkou, Simms and Onyango are more than enough to beat Fulham with the right system and bravery in selection. This is the real reason we went the extra mile and got a so-called world class manager instead of the usual idiots.

Prove it, Carlo, because no-one is interested in your CV here.

Sick of these international matches bang in the middle of the beginning of the busiest time of the football season.

They constantly complain about too many games yet these matches go ahead, shit for brains comes to mind.

Quite how we've ended up here is hard to fathom given the money spent.

It all points to us having an up and down time of it for another year or two.

Hopefully Allan and James are still in good nick by then.

I wonder if Godfrey might get his debut at CB with Holgate at RB? Holgate played a whole season there for West Brom and sadly I suspect may be a better option (even out of position) than Kenny.

I watched Holgate at times play right back at West Brom, complete fish out of water much like when Godfrey played there.

A right back needs the ability to get up and down the pitch and know when to overlap ect, for me Holgate can only play centre half or maybe defensive midfield like at Old Trafford last December.

The money we've had yet we haven't looked at a right back knowing full well Coleman's lack of fitness over the last year or so and the age factor.

Kenny not up to the Premier League either but the only option.

Allan's 'injury' was widely reported as a 'tweak'.

The Carvani tackle that caught Richarlison was a bad one, but Tite was already preparing to make the substitution with Richy coming off and Everton Soares coming on. It was a tactical change, not one enforced by injury.

The tackle happened on the opposite side to the dugout, so Richy walked off the pitch at the nearest point and then walked all the way around the pitch back to the dressing rooms unaided.

Showed Richy walking out of the team hotel and boarding the bus just fine. No hint of a limp at all.

It'd definitely not his best position but he is way better and way more experienced there than Godfrey. In fact at West Brom he got 4 assists there in 21 games which is not too shabby for a full back.

He's certainly an option to rival the somewhat limited Kenny, though I agree we really should have secured another option; think that has to do with no-one wanting to pay the asking price for Jonjoe.

While that is encouraging, it doesn't mean much. That is exactly what VVD did after getting injured! Also, I remember that Bolasie continued to play for a few minutes after getting injured which ultimately kept him out for more than a season.

Anyway, I don't want to sound pessimistic - hopefully he is fit and fine. Also good to know that the players will be coming back home today. So, hopefully they recover tomorrow and start training from Friday.

Last two performances have been beyond woeful. No motivation, no shape, no energy, nothing. Peckerman must have a wry smile on his face after this debacle.

What the hell has happened with Colombia? Last year in the Copa America they were looking as good as anyone in the tournament until their surprise elimination on penalties to Chile.

They started this year's WC qualifiers well. But the last two matches in this international break... Carlos Queiroz must be feeling the heat.

I correspond with a Colombian nurse I met when working in Angola, now back home. She is a devout Blue (as long as James is at Everton!) and she is seething this morning. I guess she represents the national mood.

Is the Colombian media as fierce as the UK and Brazilian media can be in relation to their national footy team?

Maybe it's just me, I'm just never comfortable watching square pegs in round holes and after many years of watching Everton manager's do this it's become a real bugbear.

If Mason Holgate or Ben Godfrey start on Sunday then it pretty much tells us everything we need to know about Kenny's remaining months at Everton, a player that broke through under Sam Allardyce three years ago but has never kicked on at this level and if he can't stake a claim now then he never will.

He's the only natural fullback, he done okay against Fleetwood was doing very well until he got injured against West Ham, and the only other time he's played, I'm not sure what our system was that day against Newcastle, so let's see if he's selected on Sunday. If Coleman is injured then surely Kenny must start?

I suspect Kenny will start if Coleman is out. Good luck to him but I don't think he'll be here next season.

That leaves the enigma of Whether to play Gomes(too slow), Siggy (too slow and used to have goals in him), Delph (too defensive and injury prone) or Iwobi ( not particularly good at anything especially defending) or bring Tom Davies back from the wilderness (Anyone know how he did for the U21 team).

The lack of RB cover, it's the same with Leighton Baines until finally there was acquisition in the form of Lucas Digne. I think the club didn't prioritize the RB position this summer, the same way they did with the LB position down the years. I reckon we'll get a quality RB when Seamus is ready to be on the bench, same as Leighton Baines did.

While Mason could do a half decent job in that position, the modern full back operating in a 4-3-3 or 4-4-2 requires attacking qualities to be effective at the highest level. With the best will in the world Mason is not that player. From what I have read of his interviews I think the player himself would agree with that.

The World Health Organisation should instruct FIFA to stop these ridiculous competitions during a world pandemic. Absolutely pathetic.

On twitter there is allegedly a letter from James denying any involvement or indeed not recognising the event as reported by the media/social media.

It's hard to tell if any of this is merely michevious people creating issues that don't exist or indeed if the letter by James is at all genuine. Can you shed any light on the subject Brian?