[DOHA] A World Cup at the end of the year. In the middle of the desert. And with not a single can of beer in sight.

Unimaginable a few months ago, but heading into the final weekend of the month-long tournament, Qatar has pulled it off without any major hitches so far. They did so despite all the negative press about the manner in which it won the hosting rights and the poor treatment of migrant workers during the construction of the stadiums, just to name a few of the controversies the Middle Eastern nation has had to deal with.

Sixty-two of the 64 matches have been played, and all that’s left is the third-place playoff between the beaten semi-finalists Croatia and Morocco on Saturday (Dec 17), and the main event 24 hours later as France attempts to defend the trophy against Argentina in the final.

I was in Doha earlier this week to catch the two semi-final matches and when I arrived on Monday afternoon, the airport was strangely quiet. The fully automated Immigration clearance took only a few minutes as there were no queues.

On the way to the hotel, I spotted Al Thumama Stadium, which hosted some of the tournament’s most memorable games.

By day, it looked slightly unassuming when unlit, and it was difficult to imagine the electrifying atmosphere inside when Spain thrashed Costa Rica 7-0 during the group stage; or when this tournament’s favourite underdog Morocco sent Cristiano Ronaldo and his Portugal teammates home in the quarter-finals last week.

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In fact, with just four of the 32 nations left in the tournament, the World Cup mood has noticeably died down because the majority of overseas fans have left town after their respective teams were knocked out.

Even the touristy Souq Waqif in downtown Doha looked nothing like the videos and photos on social media just a few weeks ago, where it was a hive of activity with fans dressed in their national teams’ colours in party mode before the start of the matches.

On Tuesday afternoon, several hours before the semi-final showdown between Argentina and Croatia, there were only small pockets of supporters in the various restaurants at the popular marketplace.

But later, from seemingly out of nowhere, over 89,000 spectators packed the Lusail Stadium to full capacity as they witnessed Lionel Messi’s Argentina book their place in the final after outclassing Croatia 3-0.

The venue looked as spectacular in real life as it does on television and the bowl-like structure gave the stadium a natural acoustic that easily amped up the roars of the large contingent of Argentina supporters by a few decibels.

Though slightly smaller, the Al Bayt Stadium was similarly breathtaking and was transformed into a sea of red by the overwhelming number of Moroccan fans on Wednesday for the second semi-final.

Morocco’s national carrier, Royal Air Maroc, added about 30 extra flights between Casablanca and Doha specially for this historic game, given that Morocco were the first team from Africa to ever reach the final four of the World Cup.

As it turned out, France, the defending champions, were made to sweat before they broke down the Atlas Lions’ stubborn defence and won the match 2-0. Witnessing the Moroccan fans’ passionate support even after the defeat, however, was a sight to behold.

Although all eight World Cup stadiums boast air-conditioning, the temperature ranged between 16 and 25 deg C and humidity was low; so, even though disruptive to club football, moving the tournament to the end of the year was perhaps the sensible thing to do.

Making one’s way to the game and getting home after the final whistle, however, could have been improved.

Although there were plenty of transportation options, traffic often came to a gridlock near the venues due to lengthy security checks. Private-hire vehicles and chartered coaches could only drop fans off at designated areas, which were at least 1km away from the stadium.  

Even getting to our seats turned out to be quite a workout. At Lusail Stadium, we had to climb 14 flights of stairs to find our seats. Comparatively, the Al Bayt Stadium was a breeze with only 10 flights to conquer the next night.

I may be back in Singapore already, but I’d gladly climb those steps all over again for the opportunity to watch France and Argentina square off on Sunday for the most important trophy in international football.

It’s set to be an evenly matched affair with the French being slight favourites over Argentina. The South Americans, of course, suffered a shock defeat in their opening game to Saudi Arabia, and had to survive the Netherlands’ dramatic last-minute comeback in the quarter-finals to navigate their way to the final.

But just as tiny Qatar somehow managed to defy the odds to stage a truly memorable and successful World Cup, anything is possible in football.

The writer was a guest of Hublot, the official timekeeper of the Fifa World Cup.