It's been more than four decades since Bobby Moore led England to its one and only victory in the greatest football tournament on earth, but still we steadfastly refuse to lower our expectations.
For an average of two-and-a-half weeks every four years, the nation quivers with anticipation, unified in the hope that maybe, just maybe, this will be our time to shine.
During this all-too-brief period, we allow ourselves to be whipped into an emotional frenzy by the scores of brands jumping on The World Cup bandwagon with unashamedly patriotic ads.
The likes of Adidas, Coca-Cola and Mars have paid millions of pounds to The Football Association to be officially linked with the England team. Then there are brands such as Nike, PepsiCo and Nestle that shun legitimate ties in favour of ambush marketing activity.
As Simon Freedman, group head of marketing at The FA, explains on page 20, there are strict guidelines designed to protect sponsors. There are also harsh punishments for those that breach the rules. As we revealed last week, Nestle is in the spotlight for allegedly passing off an association with England in its Kit Kat campaign (Marketing, 2 June). Meanwhile, brewer Hook Norton is now in trouble with FIFA over its new ale, Striker.
The regulations surrounding the World Cup don't prevent creativity. In fact, it's quite often the so-called ambush brands that end up stealing the limelight from the official sponsors. Nike is a shining example, with its 'Write the future' ad establishing it firmly in the consciousness for the duration of the tournament.
If more brands thought as creatively as Nike, perhaps we could spend the summer enjoying the ads, as well as the team's performance.