An extravaganza of a month that took 12 years to concoct has ended with Argentina crowned as world champions for the third time following a mind-blowing final against France.
Argentina were virtually home and dry at the Lusail Stadium before a meltdown which allowed France to score twice in the last 10 minutes to level at 2-2.
Lionel Messi put Argentina 3-2 up in extra-time before Kylian Mbappé brought parity again with his hat trick - the first player since Geoff Hurst in 1966 to hit three in a final.
There the comparisons end. Hurst and the England side lifted the trophy.
Mbappé will spend the week or so before the return of Ligue 1 licking his wounds.
Behind the agony and ecstasy of the players and the partisans lies a 200 billion euro uberlesson in state building and nation projection.
Reputations have been tarnished and murky processes have been exposed in the explosion of energy to realise the dream in the desert.
Few outsiders have witnessed up close and personal the transformations in the Qatari social and sports complex over the past four decades.
The German former athlete Joachim Krug can confidently count himself in that group.
He arrived in Qatar with his expectant wife and one small child in February 1982 to train Qatari athletes.
"I remember we had our first training camp in Dusseldorf," recalled Krug on a podcast produced by the Centre for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) at Georgetown University Qatar.
"And our athletes had tracksuits with "Qatar" on the back. Several times Germans asked me: 'What is this Qatar? Is this a washing powder? It was a very strange situation to explain Qatar was a country in the Persian Gulf.'"
Forty years after those trackside queries to the former shot-putter, it would only be an extraterrestrial ignorant of the tiny state.
Under current ruler, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and his father, Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Qatar has developed via agencies such as its sovereign wealth fund and Doha-based Al Jazeera TV station into a regional and global power player. The hosting of the 22nd edition of the World Cup has been a spectacular coup.
Success
From the sporting point of view, the first World Cup to be held in the Middle East has been a success.
The 64 matches have been played in impressive architectural structures. New stars such as Croatia's Josko Gvardiol and Argentina's Julian Alvarez have emerged. The usual suspects such as Messi, Mbappé and Luka Modric have glittered brightly too.
But after the final explosions of fireworks to hail the world champions, questions will remain about the lot of the migrant workers who were employed on the sites to build the shiny new metro lines as well as the imposing stadiums around Doha.
"The World Cup has not only been the driver for sport infrastructure," added Krug.
"When I came here, there were no trees around Doha. But if you go around now you see one park after another.
"Also when I got here people on the weekends went to Dubai for shopping. Now it's no longer necessary. You've got more than enough in Qatar."
Chance
True. The Mall of Qatar 20 kilometres way out west near the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium is 500,000 square metres of choices piled upon options.
Back in town in West Bay, top designer names line the glitzy malls near the Doha Exhibition and Convention Centre. An airy Galleria threads through the downtown design zone in Msheireb.
"It is the first world sports megaevent of significance in a Muslim majority Arab speaking Middle Eastern country," said British author David Goldblatt in a lecture for the CIRS.
"Everybody has had their share of the global limelight and finally it comes to the region and I think in a deeply fragmented Islamaphobic world, this is of profound importance."
That underlying animus could help to explain the ferocity of the criticism towards Qatar over the official position towards social and gender rights.
Next stage
An intriguing test will come in the prelude to the next World Cup in Mexico, Canada and the United States. Will those countries experience the same forensic deconstruction of their societies as Qatar?
As the Fifa bigwigs self-baste in the joys of the first Middle Eastern World Cup, the innovation in four years will be the host troika and 48 teams.
Under the former supremo Sepp Blatter, Fifa was hailed for staging the World Cup in South Africa in 2010.
The outfit could have garnered oodles of kudos for taking the event to the Middle East.
But it lost the initiative as authorities remained reluctant to soften certain stances over employment practices and organisers made U-turns on the eve of the tournament over the sale of alcohol within the precincts of stadiums.
Change
Football without their preferred oil was a grating new experience for thousands of fans.
"There wasn't any beer," deadpanned one Wales fan when asked about the lack of singing during matches from the supporters.
And that absence was made all the more galling with alcohol freely available in the swanky VIP suites populated by corporates in casuals and tycoons.
But the new narratives formed swiftly. The Qatar national team offered up the first by losing in the opening match to Ecuador. And then to Senegal. And then to the Netherlands. England spanked Iran 6-2 in their first game.
And up came the protest over armbands in support of LGBTQ+ communities in Qatar. Would skippers of seven teams wear them?
In the end, they did not because of the threat of sanctions such as yellow cards. And the national football associations did not want their star players so encumbered.
Stance
With the LGBTQ+ activists sold out, the focus veered back to the action and the stakes.
Roberto Martinez stepped down after six years as Belgium coach after his side - second in the Fifa world rankings going into the tournament - was eliminated after the group stages.
Germany crashed out following the pool stages for the second successive competition - though coach Hansi Flick has remained.
After Ghana's demise, boss Otto Addo returned to scouting for talent with Borussia Dortmund.
“At the moment me and my family see our future in Germany," said the 47-year-old former Ghana international. "And I like my role at Dortmund and we are very happy there.”
1-0 to the work/life balance.
And after more than 1,000 passes but no goals during the last-16 penalty shootout loss to Morocco, Spain's Luis Enrique passed the coaching baton to Luis de la Fuente.
Thus began the final whirl. And it was a kaleidoscope of colour. Just as Ghana and their entourage enthralled the first African World Cup, Morocco beguiled the first Middle Eastern one.
Ghana were a penalty shootout away from the semi-finals in 2010. Morocco eclipsed the West Africans to became the first side from the continent to reach the last four at a World Cup following a 1-0 victory over Portugal.
Within sight of another milestone, they eventually fell to a clinical France. And Croatia, penalty shootout winners over Japan in the last-16 and Brazil in the quarters, were victims of Messi.
On the eve of the final at the Lusail Stadium, Croatia, runners-up in 2018, won the third place play-off.
Morocco boss Walid Regragui hailed his players for their historic run and predicted sustained success for African sides who will feature in greater numbers following the expansion of the World Cup to 48 teams next time out.
"With nine participants from Africa, we're going to learn," Regragui insisted.
"We have a stage to get past and we need to build on that with hard work and desire," he added.
"This DNA is not just being built for Morocco but for the continent.
"In 15, 20 years, I'm sure an African team will win the World Cup because we will have learned."
Advanced studies need to take place too in the Fifa corridors of power.
