Getting the ball rolling...

And so it is here at last - or again, depending on your point of view.

32 teams. 64 matches. The beautiful game.

This years Fußballweltmeisterschaft may have kicked off to the oompahs of men in leather shorts but the competition promises to once again provide a spectacle reaching across cultural and ideological borders to a cumulative audience of 29 billion in 213 countries.

The international language of football is indeed a beautiful thing. But, as Bob Dylan once sang, "behind every beautiful thing there's been some kind of pain".

The world cup has always contained more than just iself, absorbing the aspirations of dictators, the clash of old enemies, and the struggle of independent nation against former colonial master (not to mention a multi-million pound industry containing many a dark space). With Iran and the United States present, together with a clutch of debutants including Togo and Angola there will be more than just a ball to watch in the next four and a half weeks.