FE Sports Desk
The curtain of the 2018 FIFA Russia World Cup will come down today (Sunday). It will be the 21st final of the FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial tournament contested by the men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA.
Argentina's Lionel Messi, right, and Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo both departed the 2018 World Cup in round of 16 matches
The final match will be held at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia and will be contested by France and Croatia.
The winners will qualify for the 2021 FIFA Confederations Cup.
The 2018 World Cup was so much more than a month-long festival of goals and glory.
After a total of 63 games played, the 2018 World Cup reaches its climax today (Sunday) as a young France side spearheaded by Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann look to win the trophy for the second time when they take on Croatia in Moscow.
Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar have all gone home. So have the traditional powers of the international game -- Germany, Brazil and Argentina.
As the 2018 tournament draws to a close, thoughts are already turning to the 2022 World Cup. Qatar will play host to football's showpiece event.
The awarding of the tournament to Qatar was shrouded in controversy as the country saw off competition from more well-established football nations to land the World Cup.
It looks increasingly likely that the tournament will not be played in the summer months due to scorching heat in the Middle East. The 2022 World Cup will kick off on November 21 with the final played on December 18. It would indeed be the first-ever winter edition of the tournament.
It will also be the first time the competition has been held in an Arab and Muslim-majority country.
Here is a look at the total scenario of the 2018 World Cup tournament:
Reputations for Russia enhanced
Hosts Russia used the extravaganza to detoxify its global brand and enhance its reputation showcasing itself as a nation that can host huge events and welcome tens of thousands of global visitors.
The Russian team, too, came out of the tournament having passed with flying colours. Ranked a lowly 70th in the world at the start and on the back of a nine-month winless run, there were real fears the team could fail to win a match.
Biggest names in sport flopped
However, as some of the biggest names in sport flopped on the biggest stage.
Champions Germany suffered their earliest World Cup exit in 80 years when they finished bottom of Group F following defeats by Mexico and South Korea, triggering an inquisition back home.
It is just the second time that none of Brazil, Germany, Italy or Argentina have made the final, after Spain's win over the Netherlands in 2010.
A tournament that will be remembered for the colourful presence of hordes of Latin American supporters has a final between two European sides after the continent exerted its power in the latter stages.
Before Brazil's exit, Uruguay, missing front-man Edinson Cavani, had been out-muscled by tournament favourites France in a joyless and dour encounter.
All in all, it has been a failed enterprise for the Latin Americans. The World Cup has traditionally been perceived as a battle between the untrammelled skills of the South Americans against the organised power of the Europeans.
Neymar was slammed for his theatrics on the field
Reputation of the sport itself might be biggest beneficiary
On the whole, though, it has been a clean tournament, with some superb refereeing. Up to and including the semis there had been only four red cards - the lowest since 1978.
The dreaded specter of VAR proved to be an overblown fear, and instead of breaking up the rhythm of the game, it eliminated most cheating, helped referees act on things they had missed and provided elevated levels of drama.
Following is a factbox on the best goals, most memorable moments and biggest disappointments of the 2018 World Cup:
Five memorable moments
* No room for Lionel Messi in this list, but Cristiano Ronaldo bags a spot with some individual brilliance that will live long in the memory.
Having led Spain twice, but trailing 3-2 in the dying minutes of their opening group game, Portugal won a free kick from 25 yards out.
While the Brazilian did come in for some tough tackling during the tournament, Neymar's over-the-top histrionics, swan-like dives, howls, and gravity-defying spins and rolls along the ground left pundits and commentators chuckling, and launched a thousand social media memes.
*There was an element of farce to South Korean Son Heung-min's goal against champions Germany, but the sheer weight of its impact ensures his strike wins a place in this list.
The Germans had not been eliminated in the opening round for 80 years, but in the dying seconds of a dramatic night in Kazan, that is precisely what happened.
Germany had pushed everybody, including goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, forward in search of an equalizer allowing Son to sprint onto a long clearance and roll the ball into an empty German net, consigning them to bottom spot in their group.
* Everybody knew that England could not win penalty shootouts at World Cups - they had last lost all three previous World Cup deciders (1990, 1998 and 2006) not to mention losing three out of four in European Championships.
*Russia. Not one moment, but two. Ranked an embarrassing 70th in the world at the start of the tournament, and coming into it on the back of a nine-month winless run, tension hung over the World Cup opening match like a shroud.
Kylian Mbappe (left) and Harry Kane get success in 2018 World Cup
Five best world cup goals
* Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal 3-3 Spain, Group B, Sochi
* Ahmed Musa, Nigeria 2-0 Iceland, Group D, Volgograd
* Benjamin Pavard, France 4-3 Argentina, round of 16, Kazan
* Kevin de Bruyne, Brazil 1-2 Belgium, quarter-final, Kazan
*Denis Cheryshev, Russia 2-2 Croatia AET (Croatia win on penalties), quarter-final, Sochi
Some biggest disappointments
* Africa, for the first time since 1982, not a single African side made it out of the group stage.
Senegal came closest, falling behind Japan in Group H because of their disciplinary record but no sense of grievance at that outcome can disguise a hugely disappointing showing from the five representatives of the continent.
* Asia. Asia's five teams at least got some wins on the board, something the continent's representatives conspicuously failed to do in Brazil four years ago, but only Japan managed to get out of their group.
* Germany. Even if fellow heavyweights Spain and Brazil also failed to get to the business end of the tournament and defending champions going out in the group stage has become a trend at World Cups, Germany's exit was particularly humiliating.
They needed a late Toni Kroos strike against Sweden just to stay alive until their final group match, where South Korea delivered a 2-0 coup de grace that left the Germans bottom of a group they would have expected to dominate.
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