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A long journey comes to an end this week. Some nations started their road to the 2018 World Cup back in March 2015. In total, over 200 teams took part of the qualifying process for 31 open spots at the tournament.
The tournament, taking place in Russia will be the first ever World Cup for Iceland and Panama. Meanwhile, a number of top teams will be missing the competition after failing to get through the qualifiers.
Here's a look at the 5 best teams that won't be at the 2018 World Cup in Russia:
#5 USA
There are two big sides in the CONCACAF region - Mexico and the USA. Both had begun to be ever-present in the World Cup since 1994. Basically, before the qualification has even begun, it has been clear who takes two of the region's places at the final tournament. But the USMNT(United States men's national soccer team) missed out this time.
USA won the CONCACAF Gold Cup for the 6th time this summer, beating Jamaica in the final 2-1, but they failed to replicate their form in the World Cup qualifiers. Called the Hexagonal, the final stage of qualifying in CONCACAF involves six of the best nations in the region playing in a 6-team group.
USMNT started the final stage in shocking fashion with losses to Mexico and Costa Rica. These were the final two games of Jurgen Klinsmann's reign. Bruce Arena, who led the side to the quarter-finals at the 2002 World Cup, was brought back and his second coming started well, but the ending was shocking.
Arena started with a 14-game unbeaten run, which is the best ever start by a USMNT head coach. However, after the Gold Cup success, the United States won only one of the last four qualifiers to finish second from bottom in the group, a point away from the TOP 3 that sealed automatic qualification to Russia.
The US last missed the World Cup in 1986. They still remain a powerhouse in the region, but lessons must be learned from this failure. Nothing is given in football, everything must be earned.
#4 Chile
All the talk before the final round of matches in South America revolved around the realistic possibility of Lionel Messi and Argentina missing the World Cup. The two-time World Champions were in danger of missing the tournament for the first time since 1970, and as a finalist of the last World Cup nevertheless.
The Barcelona superstar took the matters into his own hands and scored a hat-trick in a 3-1 away win in Ecuador. They hadn't won there since 2001.The three points gained from that match pushed Argentina from 6th place all the way up to 3rd.
Chile was one of the sides Argentina leapfrogged, and they fell to 6th to miss out on the World Cup. This, after winning the last two Copa Americas. Alexis Sanchez and Co. started the qualifiers with an impressive 2-0 win over Brazil, but they had a miserable ending with four losses in the final six fixtures.
Brazil got their revenge in the final match with a 3-0 win, scoring all goals in the second half. The heavy defeat dragged Chile's goal difference into negative and Peru, who had a goal difference of +1, got the playoff spot to play New Zealand.
Chile held the 4th place in FIFA rankings until July this year. They played at the Confederations Cup final at the start of July, losing only 1-0 to Germany. But that turned out to be the start of their downfall, and now, ranked 9th in the FIFA World Rankings, Chile will be the highest ranked nation to miss the World Cup.
#3 Cameroon
Cameroon have been the most successful African nation at the World Cup. The Indomitable Lions have played at seven World Cups, one more than Nigeria. Back in 1990, lead by the legendary Roger Milla, they became the first African team to make it through to the quarter-finals.
More success looked to be on the horizon this year after Cameroon won the African Cup of Nations for the 5th time in February, but things have ended on a sour note. They won only five of the 13 matches that followed the African Cup of Nations final win against Egypt and only one of them came in the final stage of World Cup qualification.
The qualification system is pretty cruel in Africa. There will always be a number of good sides missing out on World Cup action as only five group winners in the final round get through. Nigeria won Cameroon's group with Zambia finishing second. Algeria, who reached the round of 16 at the 2014 World Cup, finished bottom.
It's now been a few years since Samuel Eto'o last represented Cameroon, but they still have a number of talented individuals in the squad, and as the African Cup of Nations success showed, then they are also capable of playing as a very good team. However, the new generation now has to wait for a few years to get another shot at the World Cup ticket.
#2 Netherlands
The Dutch will be missing for a second consecutive big tournament. They failed to qualify for EURO 2016 with a 4th place finish in their qualification group. The Czech Republic, Iceland, and Turkey finished ahead of them and they didn't even get a chance to chase the finals ticket in the playoffs.
Before missing out on Russia 2018, the Netherlands played in three consecutive World Cups. They finished 3rd in 2014, and even made it into the final in 2010, losing to Spain only in extra time. It's been a shocking fall from grace for the nation that has given football so much. But you also can't say it hasn't been coming.
The nation has been forced to still rely on the likes of Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Robin van Persie, who are all near the end of their careers and far away from their prime. The next generation of players haven't managed to take over the reigns of the team, without a massive drop in quality.
The development of young footballers in the Netherlands is world renown, yet they haven't had success with their youth teams either. The U21s last won the European Championships ten years ago and haven't even qualified for four of the last five finals. The U19's made it to the semis this year, but they have frequently missed the final tournament before.
#1 Italy
Italy missing from the World Cup, is no doubt, the biggest shock. They had previously only missed the 1958 edition of the tournament, which, ironically, took place in Sweden. The Swedes, this time, were the side that denied the Italians the World Cup ticket by beating them in the playoffs 1-0 on aggregate.
The failure could end up being a positive thing for the four-time World Champions, though. Much like the Netherlands, they have relied on older players for quite a while and there hasn't been much success for them. They did play in the EURO 2012 final, but it was seen a surprise, which says a lot about the current state of Italian football.
Italy hasn't even made it past the group stage in the last couple of World Cups, finishing without a single win as the defending champions in 2010 and ending up 3rd behind Costa Rica and Uruguay in 2014.
It's certainly a catastrophe for Italy to be missing the 2018 World Cup, but we can be sure that they will come back stronger in the future as a result. In Gianluigi Donnarumma, they already have a readymade replacement for Gianluigi Buffon in goal and there's some exciting talent coming up among the outfield players as well.
Italy has made it into at least the semi-finals in two of the last three U21 European Championships and the U19's were runners-up in 2016. They won bronze at the U20 World Cup this summer. While they're bound to be shattered, the future is nothing short of promising for the Dutch.
