We should not be surprised that the stars have come out to play at this year’s World Cup.
The biggest, most expansive, most watched and most well attended tournament in recent memory was a natural to play host to some grand performances by the sport’s biggest names, but the past two weeks in North America have exceeded expectations of even the most optimistic supporter of the beautiful game several times over. Sometimes you have to remind yourself that the Golden Boot chase this year is not, despite the presence of some of the familiar figures atop it, simply a Ballon d’Or shortlist. That’s how good things have been.
