Four lads. One lost dog. 1200 miles. Three countries. One epic World Cup journey

Oh and one man named Nacho. This story has it ALL.

When these four English lads started planning their World Cup trip, little did they know what an adventure it would turn out to be.

Over three months, they travelled through three South American countries, walked for 1200 miles and became unwitting dog-knappers.

All before the World Cup even started.

On March 3rd, Adam Burns, Dave Bewick, Pete Johnston and Ben Olsen set off from Mendoza, Argentina with a plan to WALK the whole way to Porto Alegre in Brazil - arriving just in time for the World Cup kick-off. That’s 1966 kilometres exactly and it's no accident that it's the same year England won the World Cup for the first (and last) time.

The four also wanted to raise €27,000 (£20,000) to build a well in a community in the Bahia region of Brazil that has been badly affected by severe drought.

After taking on harsh desert, thunderstorms, swamps and one angry bull, the foursome completed their epic journey last Sunday when they reached their final destination of Porto Alegre.

And they had a new, fifth member in tow. While walking through Uruguay the team had made a new four-legged friend.

The black labrador cross - who appeared to be a stray - started following them.

And he kept following them. For 800 km.

Over the course of their journey together, their dog, nicknamed ‘Jefferson’ by the four, became something of a mascot for the trip. He even got his own English jersey.

But it turned out that Jefferson wasn’t as much of a stray as they originally thought.

@AdamBurnsPR @Walk2WorldCup He's called "Negro" which means Black. I guess he'll be happy coming back to Solis #hesgotmanyfriendshere

— Outlandish Viv (@SassenachViv) June 8, 2014

Back in Uruguay, Ignatio ‘Nacho’ Etchetchury had spotted a newspaper story about the four men who were walking to Brazil and he noticed a familiar face walking alongside them in the photo - his missing dog, Negro (Spanish for black).

Nacho contacted the four guys and told them that he was in fact the owner of the wayward pup. He hitched a lift from Uruguay with a farmer to Brazil to find his dog. As luck would have it, he arrived in Porto Alegre on the same day as the team and Negro and Nacho were finally reunited.

This is the moment we reunited Jefferson with his Daddy, Nacho. A very emotional end to an epic adventure http://t.co/mH6vw9Zi8r Please RT

— Walk to the WorldCup (@Walk2WorldCup) June 8, 2014

While the guys had their fairytale ending to their trip, they have yet to achieve their fundraising target - so far they have raised half of their £20,000 goal.

This is hands-down the best story to come out of the 2014 World Cup . And it hasn't even begun yet.

You can donate to their campaign on their Just Giving page and you find out more about their journey on their website, walktotheworldcup.com and Facebook page