Good evening and welcome to tonight’s World Cup hangout, live on TheScore.ie. We hope that wherever you are this evening, you’ll pop in for a few minutes and have a bit of a chat.

Tonight, we’re joined by the first of our very special guest hosts: 1997 World Snooker Champion, Ken Doherty.

Ken will be with us until Belgium v Algeria finishes at 7pm so if you’ve any questions for him — on the game or otherwise — send them this way.

Just in case you don’t believe us, here’s Ken in TheScore.ie HQ:

Ben Blake / TheScore.ie Ben Blake / TheScore.ie / TheScore.ie

Ken: “It will be interesting to see how Algeria play, but there’s no doubt about the quality of Belgium’s players.

“We see them week in, week out in the Premier League. Kompany’s one of the best defenders in the world and then you’ve lads like Chadli, Vertonghen and Januzaj — if he gets a run-out in the tournament.

“They were quoted at 28/1 before the tournament and they’d be my tip as an outsider.

“I have them in a double with Russia tonight as well… so come on the Belgians!”

Here are the teams for tonight’s first game:

Belgium: Courtois, Alderweireld, Kompany (c), Vertonghen, Witsel, De Bruyne, Lukaku, Hazard, Van Buyten, Dembele, Chadli.

Algeria: Mbolhi, Bougeurra (C), Ghoulam, Halliche, Feghouli, Medjani, Bentaleb, Soudani, Taider, Mahrez, Mostefa.

You’ve already sent in plenty of questions for Ken over the last 24 hours.

Here’s one from Steve Coyle: What was the strangest thing you have witnessed during a professional snooker match?

“I remember one game where rain stopped play, a bit like the cricket. There was a leak in the ceiling and it was dripping onto the table.

“We’ve had a few streakers before. There was one at the World Championships and the bouncers were trying to drag your man out from under the table, and there was another lady at the Masters — I remember Ronnie O’Sullivan averting his eyes!”

We’ve already settled the first big debate. Owen Slattery asked: Who do you prefer – Blur or Oasis?

Sorry Damon, it’s a definitive Oasis from Ken.

“I met Noel Gallagher once in Brown Thomas and went over to say hello because I’m a big fan. The first thing he said to me was: “How’s Ronnie O’Sullivan?” I thought “Cheers, Noel” — I’ve been a big Blur fan since that.

“Then I was in Old Trafford another time and David Beckham came over to say hi and the first thing he said to me? “How’s Ronnie O’Sullivan?” It’s all they want to know.”

A quick reminder that we’ve got a snazzy Sony Xperia Z1 Compact smartphone to give away, thanks to our friends at Budweiser. The best question for Ken wins it!

As you probably know, Ken’s a massive Manchester United fan so he’s been delighted to see Fergie’s former number two Carlos Queiroz doing the business with Iran last night.

“He’ll be a hero after that.”

It’s still Belgium 0-0 Algeria in the evening’s opening game, and there’s been a shortage of real chances as well.

“Get Januzaj on!” says Ken.

Back to the questions for Ken. Alan Morrissey wants to know who would be his five sporting dinner guests, past or present.

Ken: “Muhammad Ali, George Best, Alex Higgins [ed: this is turning into some party!]… Andre Agassi and Eric Cantona.”

PENALTY TO ALGERIA! Vertonghen penalised in the box.

“Don’t send him off,” implores Ken, and the referee obliges with a yellow card.

GOAL! Algeria 1-0 Belgium Feghouli slots it, cool as you like.

That is one serious amount of foam:

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Ken has just been filling us in on his pick to win it all — Brazil — and we got on to chatting about their game versus Croatia last week.

Luka Modric’s new haircut inevitably came up for discussion. “He’s like Graeme Dott now,” Ken says. “I asked him last week: what are you going to be when you grow up?”

To go back to your questions, Chalk8down asked about Ken’s unforgettable comeback against Paul Hunter in 2003 World Championship semi-finals.

“Outside of winning it, it was my best-ever performance at the World Championships. It was definitely my best comeback.

“The most frames you can play at a World Championship is 137 and I think I played 132 that year. That semi against Paul wasn’t the only long game.”

Back in Belo Horizonte, a lovely bit of play by Eden Hazard has sliced open the Algerian defence just before half-time.

“Could he have squared it there?” asks Ken as Chadli wastes the opportunity. Yes, he definitely could have!

HALF TIME: Algeria 1-0 Belgium

The dark horses are stuck in the stable. Here are Ken’s thoughts on that first half.

Ken: “A lot of Belgian possession but they’re not really penetrating. The Algerians have set up well and the goal has made a big difference. I’ve been impressed by them, even though it looks like they’re going to sit on the 1-0.

“Belgium have to get the ball wide and try to bring Hazard into it a bit more. They’ve had a lot of wasteful shots and wasteful speculative free-kicks — you can’t be shooting like that from 30 yards.”

Ronan Kealy asks: Ken, what’s your favourite World Cup memory?

Maradona v England in 86 — both the handball, and then that amazing goal which he scored afterwards. That was one of the best ever scored.

John McLoughlin asks: If you had two flight tickets to any destination, and two match tickets to a final of any kind of sport. Where would it be, who would you take, what sport and why?

Ken: “It would have to be between the Masters at Augusta, the final of Wimbledon, or the World Cup final.

“I might actually have a ticket for Wimbledon this year which would be a dream. Love the tennis.”

After setting the great Blur v Oasis debate earlier, Ken has had his say on Federer-Nadal.

“Federer, definitely. For me he’s one of the greatest sports people of all time.”

Hassan Ammar Hassan Ammar

As Ken mentioned earlier, he has a (small) vested interest in the Belgium-Russia double today and as I type, he’s screaming at Vincent Kompany to get up for a corner.

What’s seldom is wonderful for a United fan, I suppose.

Lots of your questions for Ken have been about the future of Irish snooker and whether or not we’ll have another rising star that can emulate his glory days.

“I did a show called Lucky Break on Setanta which was filmed from January of last year to August. The idea was to give someone a lucky break, which I felt I got growing up and learning in Jason’s of Ranelagh, and film it as a documentary.

“We had our first open day in Douglas Snooker Centre in Cork and 65 kids showed up, three girls, including one with a cast on her arm, and then 95 showed up in my own club in Terenure the following week.

“I’d been so out of touch with the young talent in the country because I’d been away, but I was very impressed.

“We picked four eventually and then whittled it down to the winner, Aaron Tobin from Youghal in Cork.

“I had great fun doing it. It was a bit like snooker X-Factor because you had 16 kids, then eight, then four and so on, and you were getting to know them all the time. It was very emotional.

“It certainly opened my eyes to the talent that’s out there and hopefully if we nurture it right, we’ll have another World Champion soon.”

Back in Belo Horizonte, Marouane Fellani and his magnificent fro have just entered proceedings. Still Algeria 1-0 Belgium with 25 minutes to play.

GOAL FOR BELGIUM! Marouane Fellaini has Ken on his feet with this brilliant header from a De Bruyne cross.

“I take it all back — what a player! World class!”

“Get the accumulator going,” Ken shouts as Belgium surge forward again. No denying where his loyalties lie in this one. Eighteen minutes to play.

We’re rattling through the last few questions for Ken here — and in the next few minutes, we’ll be announcing the winner of that Sony Xperia smartphone. If your name’s in the hat, stay posted!

This one came in from Aidan Baird: If you could pick one sports personality that you would coach in snooker, who would you pick and why?

“I’d coach Alex Ferguson. It’d be nice for someone to tell him what he’s doing wrong for a change. He has a snooker table in his house so we’d be grand.”

Ken says that when he was playing in the 2003 World Championship final, Fergie phoned the Crucible and told him to break on the other side to stop leaving long pots for Mark Williams!

GOAL FOR BELGIUM! Belgium 2-1 Algeria: Mertens has given Belgium the lead with a sweet finish… and Ken is bouncing out of his seat! The double is still on, for now!

Here’s that goal!

Of course the evening’s main event is Brazil v Mexico in Fortaleza (8pm). Our man Mikey Stafford will be there, and he’s checked in with this update:

“Traffic from Fortaleza city centre out to Estadio Castelao already very heavy with more than two-and-half hours to kick-off. The traffic jams allow the locals to show their support, and the road-side sellers to flog some flags, water and beer.

“There were about 100-150 protesters about a mile-and-a-half from the stadium, but they appeared to be prevented from getting any closer by a strong police presence.

“It’s cloudy with occasional drizzle here, but still in the high twenties.

“Already the atmosphere out the stadium is buzzing — this could be a pretty special occasion.”

Here’s a question for Ken that came in from @DurzaDesign on Twitter:

“For one frame shootouts, it’s ideal. In a normal tournament, anyone who’s taking more than 35-40 seconds per shot needs to be warned.

“It’s very frustrating if you’re on the other end of it, trust me.”

FULL TIME: Belgium 2-1 Algeria

It’s all over in Belo Horizonte. The dark horses ride to victory.

*drumroll please*

The winner of the Sony Xperia smartphone for the best question, as chosen by Ken himself, is Kevin Doyle.

Here’s the winning question:

If you had to cast snooker players in an Agatha Christie whodunnit style production, who’d you pick? I’m talking a victim, murderer, investigator, damsel in distress, shady suspect, the lot!

Ken: ”The victim would have to be Jimmy White because of the six World Championship finals he lost against Stephen Hendry.

“For the same reason, someone like Hendry would be the murderer — he was absolutely relentless and murdered plenty of opponents on the snooker table.

“Steve Davis is definitely the investigator. He’s the Columbo of the snooker circuit, always questioning his cue action or some other part of his game.”

Are you casting yourself, Ken?

“No — definitely not!”

Back to Ken for some final thoughts on Belgium’s win before he leaves:

“I’m not as impressed as I thought I’d be but I’m absolutely delighted. I think that shows why it’s going to be very difficult for any European team to win the tournament in those conditions.

“There was a lot of pressure on that match, they’ve got great players like Hazard, and they can still improve, but they’re not as good as I thought they would be.

“Last 16, maybe a quarter-final — that’s the best they can do.”

And that’s it — Ken’s gone home, and the number of former World Champions currently in TheScore.ie HQ is back down to zero.

Our thanks again to him for stopping in as guest host of this evening’s liveblog.

And congratulations to Kevin Doyle who won tonight’s Sony Xperia Z1 Compact smartphone, with thanks to our friends at Budweiser.

That’s our lot. Marouane Fellaini and Dries Mertens get Belgium off to a flyer — and Ken Doherty’s double is still alive.

Still to come, we’ve got Brazil v Mexico (8pm) and Russia v South Korea (11pm), so there’ll be lots more football to get out teeth into for the rest of the evening.

Thanks for reading, and for all your questions and comments.