In the winter of 2022, under the lights of Lusail, Lionel Messi finally realised the dream he'd carried with him his entire life. After years of unrelenting pressure, bitter heartbreak and agonising near-misses, Argentina’s captain rose above expectation on football’s grandest stage to deliver his country the perfect ending - and to fulfill his own destiny. Welcome to the latest episode of Icons - a GOAL podcast that revisits the last 10 World Cups through the moments, characters, and controversies that defined them, bringing the spirit of each tournament vividly back to life.

In the middle of Doha, there’s a marketplace called Souq Waqif. During the 2022 World Cup, walking through the area was something of a fever dream. It was one of the unique landmarks that, for many, became symbolic of FIFA’s first Arab World Cup.

The marketplace had a little of everything: World Cup souvenirs, local trinkets, food, camel rides, music, dancing. Tourists from all over the world would kick balls through the plazas. Fans could buy a Ghutra, a headcovering, for their local team while a giant golden thumb served as the meeting point for fans trying to navigate it all.

As the World Cup went on, particularly during the daytime, you could find the colors of every country in the tournament scattered throughout the alleyways and squares. Moroccan fans covered the streets as their team made a historic run. Fans from Japan held up signs revealing all they’d sacrificed to make the trip. Canadians soaked in their first World Cup in a generation, basking in the Qatari heat.