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Off and running

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 I feel tense, on edge, braced for something awful. Yet at the same time there's a glimmer of excitement. This World Cup is definitely like no other. 

From the [still preposterous to me] 3rd minute VAR decision that saved Qatar from the score-line humiliation that their meek performance deserved, to the capitulation of the England camp to FIFA's captain's armband edict - things don't look right. The glorious shiny stadium that hosted the opening game was largely empty by the end and the stadium atmosphere at England's game at the moment has a hollow feeling about it. Part of my apprehension of course is that it would just be SO ENGLAND to go and win this particular tournament; and then we as a country wouldn't quite know what to do about it, our country name indelibly engraved in oil, blood and essence-of-intolerance upon on the Jules Rimet trophy.  

As I write now I am watching on slight delay, after inexplicably agreeing to do an interview for a new staff member at 2pm today. This in itself shows how this tournament is unique - my diary hasn't been systematically cleared like usual; the kids will still do swimming on a Thursday, my 10am meetings are still in place, annual leave hasn't been tactically spread across the month. It's chaos.

Onto the footy. Qatar aren't up to much. This is no South Korea 2002. The hosts will presumably be going home (?) early. Ecuador looked ok, kinda like a bargain bin Argentina. Iran are dirty (how many foot stamps) and yet awful and England...well England are purring. I had a hunch that a mid-season World Cup might be right up our street. There is less hype than usual, and we've selected a balanced and very capable squad. That plus Bellingham - I'm going with the tagline that he is 'Pogba with effort' which is really quite something. Things could get very interesting. 

One thing is for sure, I'm looking to a contest breaking out soon, and it could be coming up next with Senegal vs Netherlands. I have got Netherlands down, along with Belgium, England and Argentina as my tournament favourites; and I think Senegal will be quite useful also. A competitive, high quality game is what the tourney needs, then it really will be off and running. 

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