Big guns primed to take World Cup by storm

The buzz of a World Cup remains one of football’s pure stomach-fluttering thrills. Wall-to-wall coverage, matches stacked one after the other, day after day for a month. Nothing can match that.

Not the Premier League. Not the Champions League. There is nothing quite like the anticipation of a World Cup summer.

There was a time in the distant past when international football was the undisputed king of the sport and the pinnacle of careers, but the growth of the major domestic championships combined with the power of the Champions League now sees player achievement measured more by club success.