Was Russia 2018 the Greatest of All World Cups?

"Some time around France’s virtuoso victory against Argentina and Belgium’s breathtaking comeback against Japan, the planet seemed to come to a decision. Russia 2018, it was universally decided, had not just been a good World Cup, and not just a great World Cup. It had, in fact, been the best World Cup.

That assessment may not last, of course: once we have all had a chance to reflect, it may not quite live up to the standards of the 1982 tournament, most people’s market leader whenever this conversation arises.

Regardless of its exact place in the hierarchy, the effusive discussion itself will be of considerable relief to FIFA, which hitched its fortunes to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, for better or for worse. When international soccer is being outflanked in so many ways by the club game, when it can appear to be such an afterthought, when the next edition, in 2022, will be occur mostly during December and the one after that, in 2026, will expand to 48 teams from 32, these five weeks needed to be a success."

read the analysis by RORY SMITH