The reaction of the Panamanian television presenters said it all.
As their national anthem rang out before the country's match against Belgium, David Samudio Garay clenched his fists, waved them in the air and bear-hugged his colleague Miguel Remon who was crying with emotion. The pair then exchanged high-fives.
In distant Iceland, 99.6 per cent of all television viewers tuned in to watch their country's opening match at the tournament against Argentina.
That is what it means to a country when their national team plays at the World Cup for the first time.
For much of the year, international football is seen as an unwelcome intrusion into the European club season.
The best-quality football, it is generally accepted, is found in the Champions League, as former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson spelled out when he once dismissed the World Cup as "better than going to the dentist".
But a month of compelling action in Russia has shown that the World Cup still holds a unique appeal and ability to bring entire nations to a standstill.
It is vastly more democratic than the club game, where the same few big-money European clubs dominate the main competitions every year - a dominance that is set to get stronger thanks to a revenue distribution system which is weighted heavily in their favour.
The World Cup, on the other hand, allows countries such as Iceland, Panama, Costa Rica and Uruguay to take centre stage and face bigger nations on a level playing field.
"Money talks but not at the World Cup," former Scotland coach Andy Roxburgh, a member of FIFA's technical study group, said.
This means that Croatia, barely on the radar at club level, where the country acts as a supplier of talent for leagues in Western Europe, has been able to reach the final.
While upsets in club football are increasingly rare, there has been an abundance of them at the World Cup.
Then there is the remarkable case of Uruguay, who reached the knockout stage for the third time in a row despite having a population of just 3.3 million.
"I have had great satisfaction at club level in many countries in many parts of the world, but nothing gives me the same satisfaction as coaching my country's team," coach Oscar Tabarez said.
The 32-team format looks ideal, big enough to offer the chance to countries such as Panama and Iceland to qualify for the first time and small enough to ensure that qualification remains an achievement in itself.
Still, FIFA will increase the tournament to 48 teams from 2026, which could make qualification a formality rather than a challenge for many teams and has also forced a change to a less workable format involving groups of three in the first round.
FIFA is also planning to create a so-called global League of Nations, staging an eight-team tournament which would in effect be a mini-World Cup every two years, while plans are afoot for a 24-team Club World Cup every four years.
"I see there are big teams in Europe who have ideas about competing with the World Cup," Tabarez said.
"But no other event, in times of peace, grabs the attention of as many people as a World Cup."
Australian Associated Press
