If next month's playoff deciders hadn't sufficiently whetted your appetite for the 2018 World Cup, images of the official football to be used at the tournament might just.
Call it childish if you must, but there is always something a bit exciting about the various paraphernalia surrounding the latest international tournament.
Inspired by the original Adidas Telstar ball of the late 1960s and 70s, Footy Headlines released images of the 'Adidas Telstar 18' earlier this evening - and it is really something!
Expected to be officially released when the tournament draw is made on December 1st, it is sure to inspire a serious bout of nostalgia in those who watched such greats as Johann Cruyff and Franz Beckenbauer use the original almost half a century ago.
Here is Cruyff using the ball in its original form during an ill-fated World Cup final in 1974 against Germany.
More favourably, the ball was in use as one of the greatest ever World Cup goals was played out by the astounding Brazil side of 1970.
Here is hoping that Ireland will be there next summer to create some memories of our own with the rebooted version of this old classic.
