SO THE big talking point of this World Cup, apart from that annoying background drone – and let’s be fair, Mick McCarthy is doing his best – is what a slow start it’s all been.

“Worst tournament ever” has been the cry, with some critics blaming the bouncy corporate beach ball used in all the matches, which seems fair, and others slating the presence of too many “little teams”, which doesn’t.

Apparently these latter moaners feel games like, say, South Korea versus Greece, are just dragging out proceedings when what we really want to see is France and Italy grinding out a 0-0 draw and England losing to Germany on penalties.

Why, these “minor nations” don’t even have the good grace to stand there and be thrashed by their betters. Well, apart from Australia.

How dare little Switzerland beat the supermen of Spain? Or North Korean limit the brilliant Brazilians to just two goals?

All of which is nonsense, of course.

Imagine how dull a World Cup would be with just the usual suspects. Brazil, Argentina, England, Spain, Germany, Italy, Holland… All these sides have enormous expectation behind them, and are packed with players we know from the Premiership, Champions League, La Liga – basically, they’re on telly once a week.

And where’s the romance in that?

Where’s the pleasure of seeing the musically-named Tshabalala smash home the first goal for the hosts? Who didn’t feel a little of the unrestrained joy of the North Koreans when they scored against mighty Brazil? Who didn’t jump with excitement at the late, late equalizer for New Zealand against Slovakia?

And who decides who’s a “big team” anyway?

Looking at the Fifa rankings, the 10th, 11th and 12th best teams in the world didn’t even qualify for the competition. (USA, by the way, are 14th. Weren’t 8th-ranked England supposed to thrash them?) And what would you do with fewer teams anyway? Do away with the groups and risk losing those affluent, sponsor-attracting countries in the first week? Or stick England, Germany, Spain and Brazil in the same group to watch them all play nervous, cagey football, in terror of losing?

I think it’s great that the minnows aren’t rolling over at the first sight of a Messi dribble or a Kaka free kick.

And I don’t care if we have to wait until the knockout rounds for the most mouth-watering ties. It’s better all-round if the titans clash knowing one of them is going home straight after.

If you don’t want to watch Greece v Nigeria today, then don’t. You’ll probably miss a decent game, but heck, there’ll be another one along in a minute.

This is the world’s game. It doesn’t belong to a handful of self-important European and South American countries, no matter what their impressive history and big-name stars.

The point is, Little and Large need each other. It may not be the most perfect double act, but it’s a lot better than either side going solo…