Two decades after lifting the World Cup as French captain, Didier Deschamps will look to do the same as manager when his Les Bleus side take on Croatia in the final at the Luzhniki Stadium. Victory on Sunday evening in Moscow will propel Deschamps into an elite group that has won the World Cup both as player and manager- joining the likes of the legendary Franz Beckenbauer (1974 and 1990) and Mario Zagallo (1958 and 1970)
This will be France’s third World Cup final- the first, as mentioned above, was in 1998, when they beat Brazil on home soil. The second was in 2006, better remembered for that infamous Zinedine Zidane head butt on Marco Materazzi, with France losing on penalties to the Azzurri.
Each of Croatia’s knockout games at this World Cup- against Denmark, Russia and England respectively, have gone to extra time, which means Zlatko Dalic’s side have effectively played one full extra game in comparison to Les Bleus, who have won all their knockout ties in regular time. A look at the World Cup betting section at CrownBet shows that France are firm favourites for this clash.
Croatia will be participating in their first ever World Cup final- Luka Modric and co. have already gone one step better than the country’s heroes of 1998. That team, featuring the likes of Davor Suker, Zvonimir Boban and Robert Prosinecki, reached the last four before being beaten by France.
Croatia are the second smallest nation to have reached the WC final- they roughly have the same population as Oregon, and are the first side in the history of the tournament to have won three consecutive 120 minute knockout games. History also favours the Croats- the World Cup seems to produce a new winner every 20 year- so this might well be their time to shine.
France beat Belgium 1-0 to reach the final, with Samuel Umtiti scoring the only goal of the game from a corner. Les Bleus showed very little of their attacking flair against the Belgians, and their defensive, pragmatic style came in for criticism from opposition keeper Thibault Courtois, who said it would have been better for the Red Devils to have lost to Brazil in the quarters rather than suffer defeat at the hands of a side that “did not want to play football”
While France beat Belgium, Croatia got the better of Gareth Southgate’s England in their semifinal. The Vatreni started off the game poorly and trailed at the interval to Kieran Trippier’s fantastic 5th minute free kick. However they got their mojo back at the interval and dominated the last thirty minutes, with Ivan Perisic scoring the goal that took the tie to extra time. Mario Mandzukic, another big game player, came up with the winner in the 109th minute to break English hearts.
Croatia’s path to the final
Croatia 2-0 Nigeria
Croatia 3-0 Argentina
Croatia 2-1 Iceland
Croatia 1-1 Denmark (won 3-2 on penalties)
Croatia 2-2 Russia (won 4-3 on penalties)
Croatia 2-1 England (won in extra time)
France route to the final
France 2-1 Australia
France 1-0 Peru
France 0-0 Denmark
France 4-3 Argentina
France 2-0 Uruguay
France 1-0 Belgium
The final will be played at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium. Both teams have already played one game at the venue- France in their goalless draw against Denmark, and Croatia in their semifinal win against England.
France v Croatia kicks off at 18.00 Moscow time on 15 July, 2018.