Battle of tiny giants crowns best World Cup since 1970

My first World Cup memories go back to 1966 when I would have been 10 and at a stage in my childhood where I was really becoming obsessed with football.

While some of my recollection of detail would be a bit sketchy after all these years, I can still clearly remember England winning and the brilliance of Bobby Charlton, Pele literally getting kicked out of the tournament, and Eusebio emerging as one of the world greats.

As a lover of football and as a player who tried over more than a dozen years to help Ireland qualify for a place on the greatest stage of all, the World Cup has always loomed large in my life, so it pleases me very much to be able to say that I regard Russia 2018 as the best tournament I have seen since the famous one in Mexico in 1970 when Pele bounced back from the disappointment of four years earlier as the iconic figure in a celebrated Brazil side which, playing a dazzling brand of football, won the Jules Rimet for the third time.