Desert Fest: Must leave a lasting legacy

As the FIFA World Cup bandwagon winds down on Qatar and moves to North and Central America, it is time to look back at what the 2022 edition -- the first World Cup held in the Middle East -- offered to the world.

Following planning and preparation that spanned a decade-and-a-half, it can be safely said the Qatar World Cup duly delivered, perhaps to the disappointment of the western media. There was hardly a glitch from an organisational point of view, silencing the criticism which had begun with the awarding of the rights in 2010 and had reached a crescendo just ahead of the tournament.

Even those who were clamouring to bash the hosts over various issues, involving human rights among others, were made to admit that this has been one of the safest World Cups in recent memory.

Staging the first compact World Cup, meaning all the match venues and practice facilities were located in and around one major city, must have had its challenges. But maybe that was the very idea of getting as many people involved in the games as possible, even allowing people to enjoy two matches per day.

However, Qatar 2022's success will not remain within the confines of organisation and execution. The football that has been played over the last four weeks will definitely leave a lasting legacy.

A reminder that this was the first winter World Cup and hence there was apprehension regarding the performance of the players, who were coming into the tournament barely a week after being involved with their respective clubs. But those apprehensions were put to bed as soon as action kicked off on November 20.

The tournament may have begun a little awkwardly with FIFA president Gianni Infantino delivering an hour-long monologue in support of the hosts, but the rollercoaster ride the tournament provided for teams and for fans across the globe will certainly brush those mixed feelings.

Marquee names such as Lionel Messi, Luka Modric, Kylian Mbappe, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Neymar produced their own moments of magic while the so-called minnows like Saudi Arabia, Japan, South Korea, and Tunisia delivered massive shocks.

The 48 games in the group phase produced 120 goals, only two red cards, and enough breath-taking moments to be rightly hailed as the 'best ever' by the FIFA president.

Every continent was represented in the Last 16 for the first time. The best story of all, however, was the emergence of a new powerhouse – Morocco – an Arab and African nation, who defied all odds to reach the final four and kept fighting and entertaining till the last minute of the tournament.

The 63 games ahead of the final witnessed 166 goals (2.63 per match), on course to matching the 169 goals scored in Russia four years ago and currently in fourth position overall after the 1998, 2014 and 2018 editions.

And despite the apathy from a majority of European fans to travel to these shores, the official average per-match attendance puts Qatar 2022 only behind that of Brazil 2014 among the best-attended tournaments in this millennium.

The 2022 World Cup also saw a number of individual records broken – Ronaldo becoming the first man to score in five different editions, Messi becoming the most-capped player in World Cups, Didier Deschamps becoming the only man to win a tournament as a player and then guiding the team to back-to-back finals as a manager – to name a few.

Plenty of people would have dreamt about an Argentina-Brazil clash somewhere along the line or a final showdown between Messi and Ronaldo, but what we got in the final – a showdown between the most successful nation in the last two-and-a-half decades and one of the most universally loved football nations was not a bad matchup at all.

And regardless of whoever eventually won the final, the tournament will undoubtedly leave a lasting legacy and will be an example to follow for other nations hopeful of staging the Greatest Show on Earth.