I thought it was great tbh. The atmosphere in the stadiums and fan zones has been brilliant. I don’t think it’s been as loud as a regular British game but I think that’s the nature of a World Cup. The crowd is mixed, there’s a lot of casuals and neutrals, there isn’t the variety of songs and chants as in club football nor the number of fans of that specific team to make it loud enough. The lack of alcohol has also made this the safest feeling World Cup there’s ever been. Crime is already low here anyway (in Brazil you constantly had to check your pockets in crowds) and the closest thing I’ve seen to animosity or aggression here is when a young Qatari guy pushed into the front of a refreshments queue and some Westerners set him straight (queueing is an alien concept to a lot of Asians). Fans have been mixing in busy areas of the city with no tribalism, everybody is just getting along. No heavy handed policing, and the only time I’ve seen security in the stadiums be necessary is when they’re pointing clueless people to their seats.
I think us British people also forget that whilst drinking is so ingrained into our football culture the rest of the world doesn’t. Sure the South American fans have a couple of beers, a lot of the European nations like the Germans, Dutch and Eastern Europeans but they don’t feel the need to get tanked up to enjoy a football game. A lot of the other fans seem to be able to party without getting drunk, because that’s normal for them. I don’t know if it’s always been the case and I’ve never noticed because I only normally watch them on TV but I’ve noticed the English do seem more subdued than others. Maybe that’s because they haven’t been able to get slaughtered and without that we’re naturally reserved? We only seem to have one chant and that’s droning the chorus of the national anthem.