It's back!

And then there was one. Well, two actually, but the World Cup third-place play-off is definitely one of those nominally competitive fixtures which presents a fairly robust challenge to my old friend Declan Lynch’s wise maxim that there’s never a good reason not to watch a football match.

The Twitterati, and numerous other Twitter bandits, were laying it into Jackie Tyrrell and I hot and heavy last Sunday night. They weren’t happy with our comparative analysis between the Munster and Leinster finals. A few of them told us to go away and watch the World Cup, that we might know more about Colombia and Japan than Cork and Clare.

It was an age of innocence that seems a long time ago now; those perfect summer days when we could take a moment every few hours to ask ourselves whether or not this has been a great World Cup, maybe even the greatest World Cup.

Your lunchtime headlines:

“Dad, I’m cheering for England in the World Cup!”

Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson has claimed England have nothing to fear against Columbia and has backed them to get to the semi-finals.

Today: Ozil could be the fall guy again for Germans.

There was a time when a woman’s place on TV coverage of the World Cup was restricted to leering crowd shots of female fans.

Senegal will draw on the spirit of the late Bruno Metsu, the maverick French coach who led them to the 2002 quarter-finals, when they face Poland today in their first World Cup match in 16 years.

Comparing teams, who’d win a World Cup of hurling if every county was matched off to a country.

Ireland return to the familiar surroundings of the Stade de France this evening, caught between feelings of what might have been and what they hope is to come.

Pogba has been called up by Deschamps for France's upcoming friendlies against Colombia and Russia.

The draw has been held for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

Security forces in Colombia have killed one of its most-wanted drug fugitives, the alleged number two leader of a ruthless criminal network that arose from disbanded right-wing paramilitary groups to become the nation's largest drug-trafficking organisation.

Chelsea striker Diego Costa claims Antonio Conte has told him he is not part of his plans at Chelsea.

Alvaro Morata pounced with a late equaliser to earn Spain a 2-2 draw in their international friendly against Colombia at Estadio de La Condomina in Murcia.

The United Nations has removed four officials from its peacekeeping mission in Colombia following uproar over a video showing observers dancing with leftist rebels.

The national football teams of Brazil and Colombia will play a friendly match on January 25 to raise money for the victims of the air crash which killed 19 players from the Brazilian club side Chapecoense.

Colombia's Congress has unanimously approved a peace deal with FARC guerrillas aimed at ending more than a half-century of civil war.

Colombian authorities are searching for answers after a charter plane carrying a football team whose Cinderella story took them to the finals of one of South America's most prestigious regional tournaments slammed into Colombia's Andes mountains, killing all but six of the 77 people on board.

Arsenal will assess forward Alexis Sanchez on his return from international duty with Chile, but look set to again have to do without playmaker Santi Cazorla for Saturday’s trip to Manchester United.

Dani Alves will honour the memory of Brazil legend Carlos Alberto when he skippers the side against Argentina in Belo Horizonte tonight.

Colombia's president has said he will donate more than €887,000 of his Nobel Peace Prize money to the victims of Colombia's 50-year conflict.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has indicated his desire to expand the World Cup finals format from 32 to 48 teams.

Colombia's government and rebel leaders have signed a historic peace agreement to end 50 years of war that has killed more than 220,000 people.

Lionel Messi marked his return to the international stage with the winning goal.

A permanent ceasefire has taken effect in Colombia, the latest step in bringing an end to 52 years of bloody combat between the government and the country’s biggest rebel group.

A permanent ceasefire is taking effect in Colombia, in the latest step to bring an end to 52 years of bloody combat between the government and the country's biggest rebel group.

Just two weeks ago Neymar’s commitment to the Olympic team was questioned by Brazil’s fans.

Carlos Bacca's first-half strike earned Colombia a 1-0 victory over the United States and third place at the Copa America.

A peace agreement has been signed to bring an end to a long-running conflict in Colombia which has claimed more than 200,000 lives.

The Colombian government and rebel group FARC have reached a deal on a bilateral ceasefire that would be the last major step toward ending one of the world's longest wars.

Eduardo Vargas scored four goals as Chile hammered Mexico 7-0 to reach the semi-finals of the Copa America Centenario in spectacular style.

Brazil were controversially eliminated from the Copa America after suffering a 1-0 Group B defeat to Peru in Foxborough.