The summertime of 2018: England sweltered in one of the most sustained heatwave for 42 years, the federal government tore itself apart over deals and no offers, and hundreds of mls away, within a taciturn and strange state, the national football team did the unthinkable in the World Cup: they didn’t screw it up.

The Britain team that touched down in Russia for the 2018 World Glass was a new-look outfit: there were no real stars, no overblown egos, and no dickheads. Still reeling from the wincing about How Football (Almost) Came Home: Ventures in Putin’s World Cup leave to Iceland in the 2016 Euros, goals were at an all-time low. Qualification had been simple if not magnificent, and pundits and fans alike had been lukewarm about the team’s possibilities. Just avoiding shame would have counted as some type of success. As the competition kicked off, a stunningly stage-managed event by Putin and his cronies at FIFA, most of us took a deep inhale of breath and waited for the inevitable: technical ineptitude and crap penalties.

How wrong we were. Over the next three weeks, as back home we dissolved in heat, our football team gave us cause to believe. We squeaked a win against Tunisia, trounced Panama and got a great tactical defeat to Belgium to open up the attract to the final. We all bought waistcoats and eulogised Southgate’s relaxed, fatherly manner. We all fell in love with ‘Slabhead’, aka Harry Maguire. And we achieved it all to the tune of ‘It’s Coming Home’.

Barney Ronay was there through the entire competition, criss-crossing over Russia seeing that he followed the England team, and the rest, on their search for glory. Right here, he captures the places and sounds, the twists and transforms, the bad meals and the fantastic football that contributed into making this World Cup one of the biggest ever.