Matt Doherty's World Cup diary | 26 November

We’ve an expert eye to guide us through the World Cup as Matt Doherty brings us his daily diary on the greatest football show on earth in Qatar.

Now capped 33 times by the Republic of Ireland, his latest two caps in the last week, Matt will tell us what is catching his attention in Qatar and the players and matches to look out for as the tournament progresses.

With 12 team-mates in Qatar, plus the experience of playing against eight countries in the competition, Matt will give us his insight into the busy group stage running until 2 December, then into the knockout stage which starts on 3 December.

What caught my eye yesterday

Matt: “Wales will be disappointed. They couldn’t really get going at all and will be sick they let the draw go at the end, that puts them in a tough spot in the group, and fair play to Iran. Thinking back now I had a bit of a brain fade with my Senegal-Qatar prediction! What was I thinking, 0-0? I must improve on that because Senegal were likely always going to win that. It's been tough for Qatar. My second team Holland started well, but then Ecuador looked the better team to me, the most likely team to get a winner. Holland are missing something, not sure what it is yet, but something... England struggled yesterday, I didn't think it was a bad game, to be honest, and it just shows you that every game is different and every country can play. America were very good and if they'd nicked it 1-0 nobody could really complain, but England won’t panic, they will progress and they will play better."

What I’m looking forward to today

Matt: "Today we have a great day of football! I’m backing Tunisia to beat Australia. They were good against Denmark and even though the Aussies were good against France, I've got a feeling for Tunisia. Poland-Saudi, I’m afraid folks I see yet another draw, they will cancel each other out in my opinion and I wouldn’t be surprised if not many goals were scored in this one. France v Denmark, barnstormer. If I’m not mistaken, Denmark have been very good against France lately (beat them twice in the Nations League) and a couple of our lads in action also makes the game more interesting. I’m going for a French win they just have the x-factor offensively. There's a huge game in the evening, must-win for Argentina, they are under big pressure here and it’s really a tough game - they could easily not pick up the three points against Mexico. It wouldn’t be a shock to me, but I have to back my man Lionel Messi to pull Argentina through, and I think they will scrape through in a tough game. Let’s go Cuti!"

If you only watch one game today

Matt: "I'll go with two today as it's a Saturday and I'm sure most football fans will b e watching! So let's go France-Denmark followed by Argentina-Mexico. What a Saturday night!"

Player to watch

Matt: "Olivier Giroud. He's on the cusp of becoming France's all-time top goalscorer (level with Thierry Henry on 51) what an achievement that would be... let’s see how he gets on tonight. For me, an underrated striker."

My predictions

Tunisia 2-0 Australia
Poland 1-1 Saudi Arabia
France 2-0 Denmark
Argentina 2-0 Mexico