[Shaun]

I think this was hands-down the best world cup of my lifetime. I attach a significant amount of nostalgia to 1998, which I would place second now... so many surprises, England surpassing expectations, some world-class goals and some of the most entertaining games I have ever seen:

Sweden 1-2 Germany for that comeback
Germany 0-2 South Korea for that final ten minutes
Argentina 3-4 France for the number of goals but also for the sheer awe of Pavard and Di Maria's goals
Belgium 3-2 Japan
Russia 2-2 Croatia
Spain 3-3 Portugal

I could go on...

Only downsides to the tournament were the usual diving complaints, and the couple of instances where VAR got it wrong. VAR on the whole... I don't know, I'm not sold. A lot of pundits have lauded it, saying it's an entertaining new element to the game, but I don't know... there's something a little bit "buzzkilly" about having to take 2 or 3 minutes out of the match to watch a referee watch a bit of telly. In the group stages in particular, there seemed to be four or five penalty calls a bloody game. Thankfully these dried up in the knockout stages.