The beauty of sharing the first World Cup with your child
Key takeaways
- In a blink of an eye those childhood heroes became a cut-to in the crowd - Ronaldo, the original, with Roberto Carlos and Kaka - greying legends in suits instead of swashbuckling boots.
- Tournaments once so defined now blur into adulthood ambivalence, postcards plotted along the timeline of your life, the details growing grainy.
- The World Cup cycle seems to pedal round far quicker as an adult, yet something huge changed since Qatar four years ago - a tournament lived through a sleep-deprived haze in soft-play centres and binge-watching Bluey.
Why this matters: a developing story that could shape the day's news cycle.
Published26 minutes ago By Alex Bysouth BBC Sport Senior Journalist There is nothing like the wonder of your first World Cup - the misty-eyed nostalgia of youth, summers that seemed to last forever, the gargantuan stars you believed were immortal.
In a blink of an eye those childhood heroes became a cut-to in the crowd - Ronaldo, the original, with Roberto Carlos and Kaka - greying legends in suits instead of swashbuckling boots. Still a twinkle in their eye. Aura with achy knees.
Tournaments once so defined now blur into adulthood ambivalence, postcards plotted along the timeline of your life, the details growing grainy. That one you rushed home from school for, those barbecues with your mates, the one you watched in your first house. The summers ended - with a wink, a shootout or a "why didn't he square it?"