It took 872 matches, saw 2,454 goals scored and was watched my nearly nineteen million
people.
There were riots, fireworks, heartbreak and joy across six continents.
Finally, the qualification for the World Cup finals is finished, and we know the final
32 teams
But qualification for Russia 2018 started almost three years ago, and just nine months
after Germany beat Argentina 1-0 in Rio's Maracana Stadium.
It all began in Asia, with the 12 lowest ranked teams.
The first game to kick off was the former Portuguese colony of Timor-Leste v Mongolia.
Close to 10,000 supporters packed the National Stadium in the Timorese capital of Dili in
Southeast Asia, just north of Australia, to see Timor Leste win 4-1.
They won the return in Mongolia 1-0 but would later be effectively removed from qualification
for naturalising a host of Brazilian players.
But the tie of the round was in Sri Lanka, who were playing Bhutan.
Bhutan, an isolated, ancient Himalayan kingdom, were ranked last in the world by FIFA, and
were playing their first ever World Cup game.
They were so isolated that TV was banned until 1998.
Yet, in Sri Lanka, The Dragon Boys – captain by Karma Shedrup Tshering, a pilot for Bhutan's
national airline – won 1-0 at the Sugathadasa Stadium in Colombo, with a cricket scoreboard
keeping tally.
The return game took place at the Changlimithang Stadium in Thimphu.
At almost 9,000 feet, it is the second highest capital city in the world.
The government gave the whole country a half day and the stadium was packed with people
in traditional outfits.
The players went and threw dice with Buddhist monks before the game.
It brought them luck.
They won their second game 2-1, and qualified for the next round.
They joy was short lived though.
They lost all eight games, scoring five, but conceding 52 (including a 15-0 defeat to Qatar)
ending up with a goal difference of -47.
Others had harder journeys.
With their country's infrastructure destroyed by war, and the airport off limits, the Yemen
national team had to be smuggled out of the country, taking a 13 hour ferry from Aden
to Djibouti, before flying to neutral Qatar.
They beat Pakistan 3-1 but the travel would prove too much and they would finish bottom
of their group.
Big spending China qualified for the final round by the skin of their teeth following
an incredible final day.
Four out of eight second place teams would qualify making the calculus almost impossible.
Jordan had brought in Harry Redknapp to take the Middle Eastern team over the line.
But after hammering Bangladesh 8-0, Australia destroyed Redknapp's Jordan 5-1 and they were
out.
The mysterious 2010 finalists North Korea had the easiest path, and were on course to
make the final round, beating The Philippines 2-1 with five minutes to go.
But somehow they conceded twice late on, Australia born Iain Ramsay ending North Korea's hopes.
That left China, who need all those results AND a 2-0 victory . The Premier Xi Jinping
had made a huge political and economic bet on football; encouraging investment in the
Chinese Super League and abroad, with businessmen hovering up clubs like Inter and AC Milan,
West Brom and Wolves.
They brought back Gao Hongbo as coach and, in a packed stadium in Xian, Wu Lei made it
2-0 late on and China were through.
But this wasn't to be their year.
China and Gao Hongbo struggled.
A 1-0 defeat to Syria saw protests demanding his sacking after he game in Xian.
He was fired.
China will have to wait until Qatar 2022 to continue Xi's football revolution.
The big hitters qualified: Iran, Saudi Arabia, Japan and South Korea.
But the story of the round, indeed of the World Cup, was Syria.
The country had been mired in a vicious civil war that had seen half of the population displaced,
sparking the biggest movement of refugees in Europe since World War Two.
Many of the players, including their best Firas al Khatib and Omar al Somah, refused
to play for a team that was pro-Bassar al Assad's regime.
It didn't help that at a press conference before one qualification match, the coach
and some players wore Assad pictures on their shirts.
With Damascus too dangerous, Syria would play its home games firstly in Oman, then in Malaysia.
And they kept winning, scoring late, last minute goals.
It was a complex cinderella story and Khatib and Somah returned to the team, saying they
were doing so for the people.
Syria finished third in their group and met Australia in the last Asian play off round.
The return leg in Sydney went to extra time, but a Tim Cahill goal broke Syrian hearts.
Assad met the team in their return, including Firas al Khatib.
Meanwhile, Oceania had drama of its own.
American Samoa hold the world record for the largest ever defeat: 31-1 against Australia
in 2001.
After their heroic exploits in 2014 qualification – where they won their first ever game,
captured in the superb documentary Next Goal Wins – Am Sam again came close.
Alas, transgender centre back Jaiyah Saelua – part of Samoa's Fa'fafina, a third sex
in Polynesian culture, was dropped from the squad.
The four worst teams were the same as before: Samoa, American, Samoa, Cook Islands, hosted
in Tonga.
Am Sam was coached by Larry Mana'o, the understudy to previous coach Thomas Rongen.
Again it came down to the final game.
Am Sam had to beat Cook Islands by a goal more than Samoa beat Tonga.
They fell just two goals short.
In the end, after hammering the Solomon Islands, New Zealand reached the intercontinental play
off against Peru.
After a 0-0 in New Zealand, the All Whites arrived to a cauldron in Lima.
At 3am, Peru fans were letting off fireworks outside the New Zealand hotel to keep them
awake.
At the Estadio Nacional in front of 40,000 people, Peru qualified for their first finals
since 1982 in front of 40,000 celebrating fans.
The government announced that the next day would be a national holiday
Yet central and north America saw was perhaps the most unexpected story of qualification.
The early rounds saw the weakest teams play three rounds of knock out games.
The highlight was Curacao, a Dutch protectorate off the coast of Venezuela.
Their coach was former Barcelona and Holland legend Patrick Kluivert.
Several Dutch players have Curacaoian heritage like Kluivert and his squad was full of Dutch
born talent, Like Everton's Cuco Martina.
Curacao were eventually knocked out of the third round by El Salvador.
And so, on to the Hex, the final six team group stage from which the US has qualified
for every finals since 1998 and hadn't missed a World Cup since Mexico 1986.
Results were poor and coach Jurgen Klinsmann was fired, replaced by former USMNT coach
Bruce Arena.
Mexico and Costa Rico had already made it when it came to the final rounds of matches.
Win against already eliminated Trinidad and Tobago and the US was through no what.
It didn't quite work out like.
The went 2-o down in the first half and couldn't claw their way back.
Borussia Dortmund's Christian Pulisic scored one early in the second half but it ended
2-1.
In Honduras there was drama as La Bicolor beat Mexico 3-2 and clinched the inter continental
play off against Australia (which they'd eventually, heartbreakingly lose).
But there were incredible scenes in the Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City, when Roman
Torres (who plays in MLS) scored a later winner to beat Costa Rica.
They qualified for their first ever finals with a team that has few stars playing in
Europe, although their goalkeeper Jaime Penedo plays for Dinamo Bucharest in Romania.
The US, who had beaten Panama 4-0 in the previous round was out, and the inquisition had begun.