The football is fighting hard to eclipse the politics at this World Cup, but it's yet to be seen if Qatar 2022 can produce an epic moment like Maradona's 'Hand of God', or Gazza’s 'Tears of Turin'...

Are the hosts and the wider world too repressed and depressed to ignite in such a flashpoint of magic, passion and drama, once again?

Let's give it a chance.

The controversies of Qatar have so far dominated the headlines, with the deaths of migrant workers used to build multi-billion pound stadiums and the country's attitude to LGBT rights overshadowing the football itself – and perhaps rightly so. But all World Cups take time to find their footballing feet, and even the great tournament of Italia 90 started off in underwhelming style.

You might remember where you were when Chris Waddle hoofed his semi-final penalty into the Turin night, but do you remember when England battled for a 1-1 draw against the Republic of Ireland in their first game?

If you don't, maybe you recall how the nation exploded with excitement over the next game – a 0-0 draw against the Netherlands.

Yes, a 0-0 draw. It might not sound exciting on paper, compared with England's recent 6-2 demolition of Iran and 3-0 mauling of Wales, but this was a big result against a favoured Dutch side, with Bobby Robson's new sweeper system and a sparkling Paul Gascoigne igniting new hopes in English hearts. Even the great Dutchman Ruud Gullit admitted "we were lucky to draw", and on England charged, scraping through the group with a 1-0 win over Egypt.

For the casual fan, it's probably the games that followed which linger on in the memory, with magic moments like David Platt's extra time volley to beat Belgium and take England to a quarter final clash with Cameroon.

By that time, the nation was fully gripped by World Cup fever, and the country was witnessing scenes of euphoria we can – so far – only dream of in 2022.

"I was in Zante when the world cup was on, and in a bar with a huge tree growing in the middle," recalled Michael Donlon from Aylesford. "I can still see a huge shirtless skinhead headbutting the tree shouting, 'It's only ******* Cameroon man!' in a northern accent as we went 2-1 down!"

Thankfully for that tree, and its assailant's unprotected head, Gary Lineker scored a penalty in the 83rd minute to take the match to extra time, before breaking Cameroonian hearts with another spot kick in the 105th minute.

Do we need to go over what followed? England's semi-final against Germany is now the stuff of World Cup legend. After a tense first half ended goalless, Andreas Brehme's shot in the 60th minute deflected skyward off Paul Parker's backside and looped over a scrambling Peter Shilton into the England net, before Lineker equalised with ten minutes to go, dragging exhausted players and fans into yet another extra time nail-biter.

Sadly, this time it wasn't to be for the Three Lions. Gascoigne; bullish, ebullient, and the best player on the pitch throughout the match, picked up a yellow card for a lunging tackle in extra time - his second yellow of the tournament, which meant he'd miss the final if England won through.

Crying like a schoolboy, Gazza's tears endeared him to the world, but he battled gamely on, until matters were taken out of his hands in the ill-fated penalty shoot-out. The Germans scored three before Stuart Pearce missed, and then another clinical German spot kick meant the pressure was on Chris Waddle to keep us in it.

Mercurial and almost as gifted as Gascoigne, Waddle had shown brilliance throughout the game, at one point almost lobbing the German keeper from inside the England half with a ferocious 60 yard drive. Sadly he hit his decisive penalty in similar fashion, hoofing the ball skywards into the Turin night, with English hopes and dreams trailing in its wake.

It wasn't all about England though, or even about Germany, who – whisper it – went on to win it.

After their group stage draw to England, the Republic of Ireland also had a thrilling ride to the quarter finals before losing to eventual finalists Italy – and one man who went along for the ride was a certain Maidstone-born Andy Townsend.

Yes, a Maidstone boy was in the greatest World Cup since 1966.

Speaking to website SportsJoe, Andy recalled how Ireland team tours had been so much fun that the players had eventually asked manager Jack Charlton to impose a curfew on them.

But if they wanted an early the night before the World Cup quarter final, the Italian fans had other ideas.

"Before that game, the Italians had leaked where we were staying," recalled Andy, a gifted midfielder who started out at Welling and played for top teams like Chelsea and Aston Villa. "All the taxi drivers in Rome were outside the hotel, driving in circles and beeping their horns the whole night long. We had started looking out the window, wondering if something was wrong until we realised. The cabbies were taking it in turns to come around and toot their horns.

"So we get a phone call around half past 10 from Jack: 'There's a meeting on now, downstairs'. When we get down, there's 30 pints of Guinness on the table. The night before a World Cup quarter final.

"And it was like, 'Come on, we'll have a couple of these and then they can toot their horns all night long'. Have a couple of beers and you'll sleep better. Bingo. Job done."

In the end of course, the Guinnesses weren't quite enough to take Townsend and Ireland to victory, but they gave the Italians a scare, the Irish battling all night as Italy clung desperately to a 1-0 lead.

Whether or not Big Jack had supped a couple of Guinnesses when he'd arranged for the squad to meet the Pope before the match, is unclear.

As the story goes, the Ireland team attended a service at the Vatican, but Jack nodded off halfway through, awaking just as John Paul was bestowing the papal blessing.

“I thought he was waving at me, so I waved back,” said Jack. Well, rival fans may laugh, but English fans weren't laughing when Jack took Ireland to USA 1994, while England stayed at home having failed to qualify.

Captained by Maidstone lad Townsend, Ireland got revenge on Italy before progressing to the knockout stages and losing a hard-fought match to the Netherlands. And while Townsend might not have quite lit up either tournament with his footballing skills, he would go on to light up many more with his TV commentary.

Who can forget the immortal lines such as "Scotland can't afford to take their minds off the gas" or "Fernando Torres' English seems to be coming on good," or "I think one of these teams could win this..."

Sadly Andy isn't providing TV commentary this time around, but that last statement still rings true in Qatar 2022, and hopefully the tournament will be remembered as long as the World Cup where he made his debut.

Email your memories of watching World Cups past to chunter@thekmgroup.co.uk