The World Cup gets underway today between Mexico and South Africa, and here is what to look out for from a Swindon Town perspective. The biggest sports event in the world begins tonight, and if that is not exciting enough, or you need something to look out for beyond England or Scotland, there are plenty of Swindon angles to the tournament. The obvious two come through Matej Kovar and Nestor Lorenzo, the two former Swindon players who will be involved in the World Cup. The man who spent six months on loan at Town from Manchester United, Kovar, will be hoping to start in the second match of the tournament, as his Czechia face South Korea in the other match in Group A. Lorenzo was brought to Swindon by Osvaldo Ardiles in 1990 and spent 18 months at the Nigel Eady County Ground, and is now managing Colombia, guiding them to a Copa America final in 2024. His side, spearheaded by Luis Diaz, are in a group with Portugal, Uzbekistan, and DR Congo, and have hopes of making a run in the tournament. Whilst not with the first team, there are some Swindon links with the Saudi Arabia youth sides, where Fabrizio Piccareta is the assistant head coach and Domenico Doardo is the goalkeeping coach, and have helped mould some of the players in their squad. On top of the normal reasons to support England, Eberechi Eze was coached by Ian Holloway at Queens Park Rangers as a young player. Lining up alongside Holloway’s prodigy in Group L will be Antoine Semenyo, whose journey to the top included a defining intervention from Swindon legend Dave Hockaday, who helped him after failing to make it at a number of Premier League clubs. Hockaday brought him from London to Swindon at 16 to play for the Wiltshire Sports Academy and South Gloucestershire and Stroud College, and through that, he would eventually get his move to Bristol City. One of his Ghanian teammates, Brandon Thomas-Asante, went on trial at Swindon in 2019, but Richie Wellens opted to sign Lloyd Isgrove instead. If you are looking for a minnow to root for, then Iraq and Haiti have some links to Town, with Yaser Kasim being a former international for the former and Lecsinel Jean-François turned out for the latter, and Filozofe Mabete is a present under-23 for DR Congo. If you are into schadenfreude, then you can always root against Canada after Jesse Marsch opted against taking Jamie Knight-Lebel and Junior Hoilett.