World Cup 2022 briefing: Qatar’s big show comes to an end

Despite the grimness surrounding Fifa’s often tawdry but carefully buffed spectacle, the tournament has shone on one front

If nothing else, you’d imagine idle curiosity will probably get the better of him, but even if it doesn’t he’ll find out soon enough. Whether he elects to go out walking the dog, sits at home watching the ITV4 Midsomer Murders double bill or is cloistered somewhere with his Liverpool teammates sitting with ear buds in and his back to the screen all the better to studiously ignore it, Virgil van Dijk will discover who has won the World Cup at around the same time as the rest of us who have followed it.

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