AND SO it begins, Planet Football’s ultimate showpiece.
Kicking off under a surprising mix of tepid sunshine and showers above the Azteca and ending on the outskirts of the Big Apple next month.
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The Azteca will host this year’s World Cup opener between Mexico and South Africa Credit: Getty
Two teams will scrap it out for the World Cup trophy on July 19 Credit: Getty
Hopes and dreams, delight and despair, no doubt some tears along the way.
All coming down to one match, one chance, one moment to write a chapter that will never be forgotten.
This will be a World Cup of truly epic scale.
A record 104 matches, played across 16 cities in three countries.
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Nothing like it has ever been tried before. And we can all see why.
When the US, Canada and Mexico were awarded the tournament in 2018, the reaction was lip-smacking excitement.
Not now, not with the backdrop that has seen many fans simply say “enough is enough” and turn down the chance to travel across the Atlantic.
But despite all that, despite the Iran situation, and the travel bans impacting one referee, despite the rip-off ticketing, hotels, flights, restaurant bills and even the local transportation costs, this can still be a 39-day celebration of the world’s greatest sport.
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LET’S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!
This year’s World Cup will be like no other as a record-breaking 48 nations compete to lift football’s biggest prize.
England manager Thomas Tuchel is hoping to finally bring football home after a 60-year drought.
But footballing legends Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have other plans in what will likely be their final World Cup appearance.
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Fitting, too, that it will at least start in the one of the three co-hosts where football really is an abiding passion – and at an iconic venue.
Twice before, in 1970 – when Carlos Alberto completed one of the greatest moves in football history with the perfect finish – and 16 years later as Diego Maradona lit up the globe, the Azteca has played host to the Final.
Not this year of course. In truth, this is an American tournament, with a few games loaned out to keep the neighbours happy.
At least we won’t, you hope, have a “Diana Ross” moment this time round, the songstress’ ability to miss the target by 10 feet from only eight yards remaining one of the things you actually remember from 1994.
Although woe betide any player who pulls a spot-kick half as far wide.
Expanding to 48 teams – still not enough for Italy to qualify – means an unwieldy opening phase.
Fifa had originally planned 16 groups of three before the last round of matches in Qatar reinforced the benefits of four-team opening brackets.
But with eight third-placed sides going through, which means a potential 495 permutations of who they play, much of the jeopardy has disappeared before a ball has been kicked.
Indeed, crazy as it seems, it would have been better to have a 64-team model, as that would have been a far easier to understand tournament.
Nevertheless, the extra knockout round, meaning five all or nothing matches must be negotiated to crown the winners, does give some of that back.
Gianni Infantino has been fending off backlash in the lead-up to the tournament Credit: Getty
Fans will have to grapple with red-hot temperatures at this summer’s World Cup Credit: Getty
Especially when you factor in the enormous distances sides may have to cover, crossing time zones and going from air-conditioned arenas to sultry heat on the other side of the United States.
The new measures aimed at clamping down on time-wasting – it was clear in England’s warm-up game with New Zealand on Saturday that the ball is back in play far more quickly – already look like a win from football’s lawmakers.
Yet, as ever, a tournament is viewed primarily through the prism of how England perform.
South Africa and Brazil are remembered for the chaos of Rustenburg and the misery of Manaus and Sao Paulo, more than for Spain and Germany winning.
The WAGs of Baden Baden and Wayne Rooney’s hidden injury still retain the narrative of 2006, where the rest of the world recalls Zinedine Zidane butting Marco Materazzi and Italy conquering.
Likewise, Russia in 2018 is all about inflatable unicorns and an England team that reconnected with the nation after the humiliation of Iceland two years earlier.
Thomas Tuchel and his players carry a burden of expectation that has become more pressing because of the Gareth Southgate era.
While the German’s predecessor was criticised for his limitations, that four tournament run of semi-final, final, quarter-final, final represents England’s most successful sustained record ever.
Tuchel was not appointed to go close again, but to ascend the summit.
Anything else will be a disappointment, not reaching at least the last four – despite that likely perilous knock-out path – a massive failure that will lead to serious questions for the Wembley hierarchy to answer.
Thomas Tuchel has big shoes to fill having replaced Gareth Southgate Credit: Reuters
This World Cup is set to be an international sendoff for both Cristiano Ronaldo (left) and Lionel Messi (right) Credit: AFP or licensors
Before we get to that stage, though, there will be more than a month of football, at all hours of the afternoon, evening and night, with no less than 13 different kick-off times.
The old powers, France, Germany, Portugal and Spain, Brazil and Argentina.
A final chance to see Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo on the greatest stage, perhaps playing each other in a competitive international for the first time, in a potential last eight showdown in Kansas City.
World Cup virgins in the shape of Jordan, Cape Verde, Uzbekistan and Curacao.
So many possible storylines, so much unknown, a living, breathing, evolving tale.
There is nothing like a World Cup. It remains something timeless and glorious, capable of taking you to the highs of joy, or sending you to the depths of despair.
Over the next five and a half weeks, we will all go through that emotional grinder.
And that is why, despite it all, nothing can diminish the power it wields. Every kick, header, tackle, goal, miss.
Drama. Beautiful, gut-wrenching moments. And, perhaps, this time with the denouement we have craved for 60 years.
Let battle commence.
