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Buckle up!

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Seemingly without build-up, the World Cup is upon us, and despite being a symbol of both football's corruption and the ills of humanity, I just can't help myself from being excited. The tournament has every chance of being, in footballing terms, one of the best yet. Players in peak fitness, form and rhythm, in-tournament travel virtually non-existent (remember the last Euros, 'sponsored by travel sores'), mild but not absurd weather and presumably very shiny facilities. We already know it's had a lot of money thrown at it (in all the wrong ways) and we can safely assume it will have everything thrown at ensuring it is presented positively. From a footballing perspective, its mouth watering.

I love football too much to boycott the tournament as a viewer or a blogger, but I am also mindful that others will look at me and people who share my views with disdain - blinkered, insensitive to the bigger issues at play, and generally being the gullible detergent in the sports-washing machine. For this reason I'm making it my pledge to use the tournament to learn more about these bigger issues, educate myself a bit so I can at least know and speak up, or even just make more informed choices in future.

A few resources that I'll go to, which might be of interest to others, include:

FIFA uncovered documentary on Netflix 

Amnesty low-down 

BBC summary 

Now I've shared those thoughts, it feels crass to launch straight into squad reviews and excitable pre-tournament predictions, so I'll sign off for now and share more through the week as I study up on the runners and riders.

This time around I am hoping that we may have as many as four contributors to the blog - doubling Stevey and my chances of making sense and calling things right.

Have a good week.

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