The World Cup provides a chance to be reminded of our self-delusions | Marina Hyde


I cannot wait for the tournament to start. I just feel like I’m going to be happier arguing about VAR than about nerve agent

In 2012, the Pointless host Richard Osman conceived the World Cup of Crisps, in which 32 big-hitting varieties of crisp were pitted against each other in group stages, all decided by Twitter polls. Thereafter, the winners proceeded to knockout stages, meeting in quarter-finals, before progressing to – well, I believe you are familiar with this general format.

Osman has since expanded the idea to the World Cup of Chocolate, and a book called The World Cup of Everything, which invites readers to stage their own hotly contested tournaments between the weightiest competitors in the fields of such things as bands, animals, biscuits and so on.

Related: From Leicester-Fleetwood to Mainz-Freiburg, VAR’s highs and lows so far | Paul MacInnes

The psychic pall of the England shirt traditionally gets too much, like some family Christmas that's gone on too long

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