Tommy Martin: Qatar finals a depressing antidote to World Cup fever
Wales' Gareth Bale (centre) during a training session at The Vale Resort, Hensol. Picture Nick Potts/PA Wire
As strains of World Cup fever go, this year’s version is quite mild and not that transmissible.
Usually at this time in a World Cup year you begin to notice mild symptoms. Pulse racing over the new Panini sticker album. Slight anxiety about an injured superstar. Headaches caused by the launch of a particularly lurid goalkeeper’s jersey. Even Ireland’s now-regular absence cannot inoculate against the lurking pathogen that will, by mid-summer, develop into full-blown delirium.
