So George Orwell was right? Words, it seems, are losing their meaning.

How about VAR -- a revolutionary development in refereeing -- how did that fare? Pretty well, I'd say. As it ought to have done -- I mean, who is going to argue with VAR's basic job?

The signs that the 2018 World Cup was not going to be business as usual came early.

Yikes! Here they come again! The set-piece merchants, the soccer commentators who will keep insisting that our sport is all about "set pieces."

If ever there was a tricky soccer situation that was waiting to be solved by VAR, surely it was the problem of goalkeeper movement at penalty kicks.