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Harry Kane will never have known projection like it — a 30ft image of the England captain is wrapped around a glass skyscraper in central Doha.

It makes him a dominant part of the visual landscape on the road to the World Cup media centre, where every single pre-match press conference will be held during the tournament.

He’s not the only one. Luis Suarez, Luka Modric, Virgil van Dijk and Sadio Mane are among the 13 players also ‘wrapped’ around buildings. One from each competing nation should follow between now and November 20, if image rights approval can be secured.

The World Cup and its stars are being paraded like never before by a host country. The players are pictured everywhere, as is the tournament slogan, ‘Now is all’. 

But behind the razzmatazz, how prepared is this tiny nation for an influx of one million fans? And what will the experience be like for supporters?

Getting around

It’s World Cup fever from the moment you board a Qatar Airways plane. Robert Lewandowski and Neymar feature in the on-board safety video. The pillows state: ‘Football is passion.’

Hamad International Airport has a smooth efficiency, with a Metro station at Terminal 2 linking the network’s red line to central Doha. The Metro has stops within a 10-minute walk of five of the eight stadiums, including Khalifa International, where England start against Iran, and Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, where Wales play all three group games.

But beware jumping on the wrong carriage: some are family and women-only. For the first time, any fan with a ticket to a game can ride the host country’s Metro for free, by waving the all-important Hayya Card app — which must be secured to get visa access to the country and to matches. 

The Uber network is effective, though supply will be severely tested. In an attempt to get traffic off the frequently gridlocked roads, Qatar has designated the month of the tournament a school holiday.

Where to stay?

It’s a chaotic, last-minute race to make rooms available and this a source of real concern to the Football Supporters’ Association (FSA). The main hotels in Doha have had 80 per cent of their rooms taken from them by FIFA, who have been marketing them. 

But a number of hoteliers say that when they get the unsold ones back — at the end of the month — their priority will be their oil and gas industry customers, who install their rig workers in them. 

Many of the cheapest £70-a-night villa and apartments have gone and though 20,000 more rooms are expected to become available in the next few weeks, there is a big rush to get them finished in time.

There’s been a huge demand for November 24 and 25, the early days of the tournament, so the FSA say anyone still looking to book for the entire two weeks should consider splitting bookings by moving from location to location during the tournament. This might help keep costs down.

The Qataris have just announced that local people will be allowed to let out their own villas to international fans. There’s very little under £200 a night on Airbnb. 

There are 20 properties on booking.com for the first three nights of the tournament. Many different contractors are building the facilities. That appears to be contributing to the challenges of getting a clear picture of what will be ready and when. Qatar says there will be 100,000 rooms available on any one night.

Tent life

A tented village, ‘Al Khor Camp’ which is one of the official accommodation options, was still under construction when Sportsmail visited 10 days ago and is being built out into the desert, on a dead-end road, 40 minutes north by car from central Doha.

We see square canvas dwellings that campers would walk into, rather than Glastonbury-style tents. 

Security officials guard it fiercely but tell us that there will be beds in the tents, a communal swimming pool, gym, tennis courts and air conditioning. Small wooden food kiosks are already built.

One will sell Egyptian and Lebanese ‘koshari and falafel’. Another is the ‘Blue Mountain Cafe’. Qatar says 1,000 ‘Bedouin-style’ tents will be pitched. The cheapest being marketed at Al Khor is the ‘Deluxe King Tent for two’, which is spacious with wardrobes and a flat-screen TV but is a cool £365 a night.

Fans will have to make their own entertainment up there and that won’t include alcohol, though the complex is built on the Al Farkiah beach. It’s only a few miles from the Al Bayt stadium, where England play USA. There is also to be a Caravan City, run by a company called Asco Trading.

...Or cabin fever

The tents certainly look a great deal more appealing than the ‘cabins’ that the World Cup organisers are offering. 

The artists’ impressions show communal areas but when Sportsmail visits the site — again, very much still under construction — we find row upon row of soulless metal buildings in shades of yellow, pink and turquoise on a desert site at Ras Bu Fontas inside the ‘Free Zone’ off the airport road.

A hand-painted sign suggests it will be called ‘The Al Wakra Camp’ but it’s more like a PoW camp with vast numbers of 10-cabin blocks positioned in rows which run for a quarter of a mile. 

The artists’ impressions show arches of topiary at the entry to the walkways between each row but this place, built out near the main Hamad International Airport, feels like a place to get away from.

The cabins we saw were still shells, with a bedroom and shower. The starting price of 740 Qatari Riyal (£176) seems a lot for these rudimentary huts. 

It’s unclear, either through online images or our investigations, whether the toilets are communal. It is thought that 3,500 more of these may come online via the official Qatar Accommodation Agency.

Life on the ocean?

Two cruise ships will arrive to house fans in Doha Port. The MSC World Europa cruise ship, with its 1,900 cabins, is due to depart from France in October and will be joined by the MSC Poesia the following month.

 Between them, they will provide 3,898 cabins, 45 bars and 10 dining facilities. They are not cheap. Minimum price £530 a night. But they do throw a buffet breakfast in.

It is thought that there are plans to secure a third cruise ship. The vessel is available but there have been problems with the logistics of mooring it, which it is hoped will be resolved. 

Many fans have decided to base themselves in Dubai. Argentina fans — always the life and soul — will arrive from South America on their own cruise liner.

On the Waterfront

The best of Doha for fans is the beautiful four-mile waterfront promenade, or Corniche, on the fringe of the Arabian Sea, which is clearly being lined up as a major congregating place.

It has been widened and landscaped, with a turquoise cycle track installed. The race to get things ready is last-minute here, too. It’s the Qatari way. Workers had hosepipes turned on sections of brown, sun-parched grass when we visited. 

They were also toiling to complete the task of laying paving stones, setting lights into them, and finishing underpasses linking the walkway with Doha’s historic Souk, with its narrow walkways, market and restaurants.

Temporary seating was being created in the Souk, too. This is also where it is anticipated that many Argentinians,

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