I guess last WC had a hype of it being the last dance between Messi and Ronaldo. It won't be wrong to say that half of the World population was divided into two camps. People really wanted to see a semi final /final between Argentina and Portugal.
Most didn't really expect these two to play this WC.
We don't see this WC having the same hype. Messi achieved everything and he has nothing left to prove. Ronaldo has WC missing but deep down people know Portugal doesn't have much chance to win it.
High fees and political atmosphere in the US didn't do good either.
