On 1 December, Thomas Muller left the World Cup in tears. On the second day, Luis Suarez sobbed. On the fifth day, Maya Yoshida cried. On the ninth day, Neymar wept. On the 10th day, Cristiano Ronaldo blubbed and Harry Kane bawled.
This is the power of a World Cup, a place where emotions are brought to the fore, stripped down and exposed. A place where rippling alphas remember being little boys with big dreams. None of them wanted to show it: Suarez hid his face in his shirt, Ronaldo marched to the dressing room, Kane hunched into a ball as his teammates shooed the cameras away. But they could not hold it in.
