Cristiano Ronaldo may have scored three goals at the World Cup on Friday night but Isaac and Toby are notching up hat-tricks of their own too.

I commented last week that ‘Tobesy’ had football fever and that shows no signs of abating. Since then he has acquired the new Arsenal strip, paid for out of his own pocket money. With every passing day, our living room walls are increasingly disappearing under a growing collection of football-related drawings and charts. And his initial forays into organised after-school football have been a resounding success. He’s not the best but he’s good enough to hold his own and he’s loving it.

Maybe it will die down a bit as the tournament progresses but three days in Toby can’t cram in enough football-related viewing and chat. Isaac is less football-crazy; the more Toby’s obsession grows, the more Isaac backs off. Nonetheless, today has been all about the football in various guises.

We’ve watched at least part of all four games today.

The boys have played FIFA on the Xbox together.

And, for the hat-trick, they’ve had a good kickabout with our neighbour’s son in front of our houses. (The benefit of living at the very end of a cul-de-sac.)

Get in!

It’s unlikely they will be able to keep up this level of intensity throughout the entire tournament but it’s lovely to see while it lasts. Watching the World Cup on TV with my dad is a fond memory from my childhood, so it’s great to be able to build similar memories now.

At one stage this afternoon, the boys built themselves a little den in front of our TV. Except it wasn’t a den: it was a commentary booth. They then proceeded to give a running commentary on the second half of the Argentina vs Iceland match. We may not have the next Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi on our hands – but maybe we have a future John Motson?

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