Hello everybody and welcome to live coverage of New Zealand v Egypt from Vancouver Stadium. Kick-off in this Group G clash is 6pm local time (9pm EDT/2am BST/11am AEST).

In this history of the World Cup only Honduras have played more matches (nine) than Egypt (eight) and New Zealand (seven) without winning. Both nations came close to breaking their ducks in round one with the Pharaohs undone by the second-half introduction of Romelu Lukaku, and the All Whites twice pegged back by Iran.

Ranked 85th in the world by Fifa, New Zealand are the weakest team on paper at the finals. But they looked capable in their opening match with Chris Wood excelling as a target man, using his strength with his back to goal to help his side gain a foothold downfield. They will begin every match as underdogs so Darren Bazeley doesn’t need to overthink anything.

Egypt, by contrast, had more than one eye on defence when they took on the Belgians, double and triple teaming Jeremy Doku to neutralise their opponents’ greatest threat. This evening they will need both eyes on attack if they are to finally live up to the reputation they have earned winning seven Africa Cup of Nations.

With the earlier match in Group G ending in a draw, these two protagonists know that a win will deliver an outcome of historic proportions.

I’ll be back shortly with team news and a roundup of all the matchday action so far. In the meantime you can keep an eye on Cape Verde’s magical tournament debut as they terrorise Uruguay, and email any thoughts about the World Cup to jonathan.howcroft.freelance@theguardian.com.