By this triumphant World Cup

● Riveting final encapsulated essence of fine tournament

In the end the final was a microcosm of Russia 2018, a barnburner of a contest in which both teams went at it like kids in the school yard, and with a dose of VAR thrown in. Not since 1974 have we seen three goals in the first half of a final. That old terrace staple, ‘attack, attack, attack’ could go the way of the Sunday sermon should club football take its cue from the ravishing upgrade in template.

What a pity VAR is not to be rolled out in in Scotland and England next season. If nothing else it would give the pundits something to sink their veneers into at half time. Alan Shearer morphed into Buster Blood Vessel so convinced was he that Nestor Pitana was in error in identifying Ivan Perisic as a basketballer in the box. It will always be divisive since the referee must interpret the act. The point is the offence was interrogated, which is a huge advance.

The introduction of technology and the front-foot football transformed the World Cup experience. The real surprise, indeed charm, was the way Russia restated the credentials of an international game thought moribund under the advance of club football. Like the fans who travelled in great number, draping Red Square and the arteries feeding out of Russia’s capital city in 50 shades of colour, the players, too, have been fully invested in the tournament.

In a number of ways, the World Cup has stripped the game back to fundamentals, and in so doing reminded us why we love it. Talk about the law of unintended consequences. This was a tournament brought to Russia by a regime engaged in the greatest perversion of the sporting ideal in the history of competition [Sochi Olympic drug scandal], and a governing body, Fifa, riven by corruption on an industrial scale. Yet somehow, between them, Russia and Fifa fluked a winner.

The material circumstances underpinning this rebirth were created by the avaricious march of the club game, super-rich

“The shared identity and common interest has been reclaimed by the national teams. This is Russia’s great triumph”