There is a World Cup within the World Cup.
It is that of the disappointed and the losers, the deluded left with a handful of flies (or rather, of sand, given the location) in hand.
But there is also the World Cup of those who showed up with certain credentials and immediately realized that it would be tough.
And quite a lot too.
Neymar, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lukaku, Eriksen, Anguissa have returned home without glory and bitter mouth and with the awareness of having missed a very tempting opportunity.
At the World Cup there is never a shortage of outsiders, in Qatar surprises have become routine.
Among confirmations, Argentina and France, a Croatia which is in any case vice world champion, and the absolute novelty of Morocco, there are those who have returned home prematurely and empty-handed.
Without leaving any mark.
The cases of Belgium and Germany are sensational: Martinez's team, after years spent at the top of the Fifa ranking (what's the point?) and after having found space in Group F together with Morocco, Croatia and Canada, has returned home with only one win, one draw and one defeat (precisely against the North Africans), first in the standings.
The golden generation closes with 'zero tituli', a result that certifies the end of an era.
The man who symbolizes the defeat of the 'Red Devils' is Romelu Lukaku: the Inter forward had arrived in Qatar with many physical problems and was unable to make an impact.
Just like Eden Hazard or De Bruyne himself, star of Manchester City.
Not to mention the goalkeeper of the European champions Real Madrid, Thibaut Courtois,
Moving forward in the global disasters, Germany was looking for redemption after the sensational debacle in Russia four years ago.
Instead, not even Hans Dieter Flick was able to relaunch the shares of the 'Mannschaft' in the stock exchange of world football: the mix between experience and youth did not work.
The defections on the eve also had an impact, such as those of Sané (half-duty employee) and Timo Werner, knocked out before leaving for Qatar.
More was also expected from Spain which instead came out in the round of 16 at the hands of non-game Morocco, who blocked the game to the extreme, but it wasn't even lucky: some 'mammasantissima', such as Busquets, betrayed it on the spot.
Luis Enrique deserved more.
Perhaps even the Netherlands, defeated in the round of 16 only on penalties by Argentina, could have aspired to a better fate in the Qatari tournament.
The 'Blindfolded Goddess' turned her back on her at the climax.
Cameroon was disappointed who, apart from Brazil, had found space in a group with Switzerland and Serbia.
The 'Indomitable Lions' looked like lambs and the victory over the cariocas was useless.
Serbia also sunk by an out of phase Vlahovic;
was considered one of the possible surprises and instead stopped at the group stage.
Like the Uruguay of the experts Cavani and Suarez: Darwin Nuñez was not enough.
Poland also disappointed, but above all Lewandowski who scored the first goal at the World Cup, but appeared a bit deflated.
The most sensational collapse was that of Brazil which, although it went out on penalties against Croatia, had made it clear that it had a very different fate in a tournament that has won the most (five) and which it hasn't been able to get its hands on since 2002 Salecao gave us pearls of beautiful football, but dissolved when the good things began, that is, at the first hurdle of the knockout phase.
A sign of enormous weakness.
Neymar, Casemiro, Alisson and teammates ended up with their heads bowed.
Finally, Portugal, or rather Ronaldo: he was in his last play, he made more headlines outside than inside the pitch.
When he has been called upon, as in the crucial phase of the match against Morocco, he has failed to score.
The swan song of the five-time Ballon d'Or winners.