That there football...

Once every four years and it is time to... get the Panini album, pull the England shirt out from the box in the loft, ignore the fact that you've been slagging them off for the last 3 years and 11 months, become an expert on the current form of the Saudi keeper and become very conversant with random time zones and inhospitable waking hours.

But now the fun bit is over and we have to start to brace ourselves for the knockout stages and the anguish that 90/120 minutes +/- penalties can bring.

It is wonderful but also so agonising....