Spain players prefer siesta

One of the famous Spanish cultural stereotypes appears to be in rude health after Spain midfielder Koke revealed he and his teammates have been unable to watch some World Cup games because it interferes with their 'siesta', the traditional afternoon nap.

"We have been watching the games we can at our base. The first coincides with siesta time and the second with training," Koke said in an interview with newspaper El Pais published on Saturday.

"We usually watch the last game while we are having dinner."

If the rest of the squad have been following Koke's example, then they would have missed the dramatic finale to Brazil's 2-0 win over Costa Rica on Friday with two stoppage time goals, and last week's compelling 1-1 draw between Argentina and Iceland.

Fortunately for Koke and his team mates, all of Spain's games in the tournament in Russia have been scheduled to kick off at 2100 local time (1800 GMT), meaning they can still take time out of their days to get some much needed rest.

MEXICAN FANS BRING CARDBOARD FRIEND

A group of Mexico fans have had an unusual companion on their travels through Russia to follow their team in the World Cup - a life-size cardboard cut-out of their friend who pulled out of the trip of a lifetime at the last minute.

"We organised the trip, he was included in the list. And in the end he cancelled everything because his girlfriend did not let him come. It was our duty as friend to make joke out of it," Mexico fan Matthieu Janelle told Reuters TV.

The huge cardboard picture shows his bearded friend Javier with a sad look on his face wearing a T-shirt saying "My girlfriend wouldn't let me come".

Their cardboard companion has travelled with the group of friends in a minivan they designed specially for the tournament and they danced with it at the fanzone in Rostov-On-Don, where Mexico, who upset Germany 1-0 in their first game, play South Korea on Saturday.

RECORD NUMBER OF PENALTIES

One of the central themes from the early stages of the World Cup in Russia is the number of penalties being awarded, many following the intervention of video assistant referees (VARs).

Gylfi Sigurdsson's missed penalty in Iceland's 2-0 loss to Nigeria on Friday was the 12th of the tournament in the first 26 matches, of which nine were scored.

In Brazil four years ago, there were only 13 penalties in the entire tournament. The World Cup record, set in 2002, stands at 18.

The role of VAR goes a long way to explaining this trend, with six penalties so far being awarded following a video review.

A penalty was also disallowed in Brazil's win over Costa Rica on Friday after VAR deemed there not to have been a foul on Neymar.

If the current rate of 0.46 penalties a game continues, then the World Cup is on course for a total of 29 spot kicks being awarded by the tournament's end.