It has probably got something to do with old age, but I am finding hard to get excited about the 2014 World Cup.

The big event in Brazil is a little over 10 weeks away now, but it is a struggle to get enthused – and I think that is because their are no surprises any more.

In many ways the modern day competition is the logical conclusion of Jules Rimet and Henri Delauney’s dreams of globalising the game when they first came up with the idea of a World Cup back in the 1920s.

However, in the last 20 years alone the spending power of first Serie A clubs in Italy, and then our own Premier League and Spain’s La Liga, has ensured that top talent anywhere on the planet can be bought by the biggest clubs and, with worldwide television coverage, we have all seen them.

And not only have we seen them on the screen in our front rooms, but if you are a follower of a Premier League club you are almost bound to have watched at least half a dozen players who will be on show in Brazil this summer even if you have attended only one game.

Without even involving the England squad in the equation there should be more than 100 non-English Premier League players on show in the World Cup.

Even if you are a Town fan in the Championships there is a moderate chance you will spot one before the end of the season as their are nine second tier clubs who have playing staff vying for a place on a plane to South America and even in League One there is Massimo Luongo, who will be hoping he is involved for Australia after recently making his Socceroos debut as a second-half substitute in the 4-3 loss to Ecuador at The New Den.

It was a far smaller world when I first became a World Cup addict, but those flickering colour images from Mexico in 1970 – watched late at night thanks to the indulgence of a soccer mad dad – were fantastic.

And shocks came in a far simpler way.

We all knew Brazil were a very good side, but I don’t think anyone – let alone myself as an impressionable nine-year-old – could have imagined any football team could be quite that good.

That World Cup led to a lot of grazed knees in playgrounds across the world as every small boy worth his salt celebrated scoring a goal by racing 30 yards before throwing himself to his knees and crossing himself in the style of Jairzinho.

But World Cups continued to surprise regularly even up to the watershed that was Italia 90.

Again colourful images of a sun-drenched pitch in Milan are etched in my memory as a group of Africans clad in green, yellow and red stunned the global audience by beating the holders Argentina – courtesy of an François Omam-Biyik goal.

Now I know in these days of political correctness and fair-play we are not supposed to encourage violence, but there was a kind of beauty in the way that the Cameroun players set about deflating the arrogance of the Argentine superstars by essentially kicking them until they finally fell over.

However, Italia 90 was the beginning of the television revolution and within a season football fans in England were regularly watching Serie A games and since then viewing action from leagues other than our own has become almost habitual – long gone were the days when only Brian Glanville was the only Brit who could name the Internazionale back four.

There have still been surprises in World Cups, I mean who knew the Bulgarians would be so entertaining in USA 94 or could have imagined Senegal beating France in Seoul in 2002, but they are ever decreasing and increasingly less shocking – particularly as we have all been watching the African Cup of Nations for at least a couple of years now.

But here’s hoping you can find a shock to cling on to.

My personal dream is seeing a Manchester City player lift the trophy at the Estádio do Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro on July 13 and for that player to be Joe Hart rather than the more likely scenario of it being David Silva, Jesus Navas or Alvaro Negrado – although Yaya Toure picking up the prize might mean we have had a better than expected tournament!

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