Like it or not, the World Cup is happening-and we might even enjoy some of it Jonathan Liew

And now, finally, some football. For much of the 12 years since Sepp Blatter's fumbling fingers ripped open an envelope containing one word and a thousand questions, the 2022 World Cup has been able to exist in our minds as little more than a surreal abstraction. A computer-generated simulation.

- 

Some Philip K Dick-infused vision of a future that might never come to pass. But the time for daydreaming and denial is over. This is happening.

Why? How? Why here? Why now? And-frankly - what the hell? This is not the first World Cup to be held in the shadow of totalitarianism. It is not the first to be awarded under questionable premises, nor the first to be built at a ruinous expense to the public exchequer and the planet. But in most respects, it is like nothing this sport will ever have seen before.

Of course, you didn't choose this. Nor did the players or coaches. A winter World Cup in a desert state with no footballing heritage and a litany of human rights abuses was instead imposed upon us by the 22 men of Fifa's executive committee, three of whom are now dead.

The very existence of this tournament is a reminder of where the power has always resided in this sport. You are welcome to turn up, tune in and enjoy. But this spectacle is not yours and never has been.