Glad I helped everyone sleep, jokes Neville

Neville, who played for Manchester United, Everton and England, was criticised for his lack of emotion and “monotone” style during the game.

Many viewers took to Twitter to criticise him, with several joking England physio Gary Lewin, stretchered off after injuring his ankle, had actually “fallen into a coma” listening to Neville.

A BBC spokeswoman said there were 445 complaints after Saturday night’s game, which pulled in a peak audience of 15.6m viewers.

Neville told Radio 5 Live: “Co-commentary is harder than I thought it would be... I will get better... I’m glad I helped everybody sleep.”

The BBC said Neville, who has received broadcasting training, was “an important, well-respected member of our team” and would “continue to play a key role throughout the tournament”.

Brazil playmaker Oscar will be hopeful of using recent experiences of facing Mexico to plot their downfall in their Group A meeting today.

The 22-year-old Chelsea star knows plenty about the upcoming opponents having lined up against Mexico twice in the last two years, suffering heartbreak in an Olympic final defeat and retribution as Brazil won 2-0 in a Confederations Cup group game 12 months ago.

“Of course I was very sad (after the Olympic defeat),” he said. “It is a medal that Brazil have never won and we lost the final. Mexico are a very good team. It will certainly be as difficult as last year.

“In the World Cup there is an extra desire to win and I hope we can do so again this time.”

Today’s other games see Belgium open up against Algeria, while Russia play South Korea.