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When the decisive shots arrived, it was the entire French team in the fray of victory by the corner flag. Hugo Lloris, the goalkeeper of France, had run the full length of the field. All the substitutes disappeared one under the other. There were even some back-shop staff who were considering participating, and who could blame them? France was on its way to its second World Cup and a party was already under way behind the goal where the three lights were pounding.
Not even Croatia, with all its powers of sustainability, could recover from Paul Pogba's goals and Kylian Mbappé scored quickly to open a three-goal lead and make sure that France will soon wear a shirt with two stars, rather than one, over their bad. Didier Deschamps became the third man in history to win the World Cup as a player and manager, alongside two giants of the game, Mario Zagallo and Franz Beckenbauer. Mbappé is a world champion at the age of 19 and, finally, Lloris' embarrbading abandonment to let Mario Mandzukic go back to Croatia will not be much of importance.
France should be considered deserving champions in mind their performance badured throughout the tournament and any team that scores four times in a final has the right to feel euphoric. It told only part of the story and it was difficult not to sympathize with Croatia keeping in mind the story of the first half, when Mandzukic scored his own goal and France was awarded a penalty due to a VAR decision limited
Zlatko Dalic, the manager of Croatia, promised us that his team would be defeated with dignity and that his players would remain there under difficult circumstances. Even at 4-1, they refused to brandish the white flag of surrender, rising for one last push after Mandzukic punished Lloris' release.
Croatia started this final as if it were offended by France's suggestion. favorites. But luck was against them in the key moments of the first half when the match took shape, from the moment Marcelo Brozovic was penalized for alleged foul play on Antoine Griezmann in preparation for the first goal. He was scored at this World Cup, but none of them has been so meaningful or been surrounded by so much misery. Mandzukic jumped between Pogba and Raphael Varane, striving to erase Griezmann's cross, when the ball crushed the top of his head, eight meters from his own goal. His attempt to help the defense had gone horribly wrong. There was nothing that Danijel Subasic, Croatian goalkeeper, could do and France was ahead before one of his own players managed a single goal attempt.
This was the 53rd goal in the history of the World Cup. Returning to a Mexican player, Manuel Rosas, doing the same against Chile in 1930. Nobody, however, had done it before in the final and probably Rosas did not suffer indignity, as Mandzukic did here, from the public announcer leaving everyone
Paul Pogba celebrates after scoring the third goal of his team. Photography: Martin Meissner / AP
Another camp might be faded. Except, of course, we should know enough about Croatia now to not be surprised by their reaction. Ten minutes later, N & # 39; Golo Kanté becomes the first player to be booked. Luka Modric threw the free kick until the last post and Ivan Perisic was waiting at the corner of the penalty area, anticipating where the ball might finally arrive. Domagoj Vida returned the ball to his teammate and the expertise of Perisic's first contact opened the possibility of aiming. He let slip a diagonal left kick that flew over Lloris at full speed
. All this was rather unexpected since there were only four goals in the first period in the previous seven finals. A splendid tournament always needs a splendid final and, in this respect, it certainly did not miss any drama or incident. It was difficult, however, not to feel sympathy for the losers' camp, given the pile of grievances that Croatia would carry with them. Even the free-kick on Griezmann before the first goal seemed generous, to say the least, and when it came to the penalty, it was hard to believe that Perisic had knowingly used his hand to intercept Blaise Matuidi's shot at the 34th minute.
This was certainly not a simple decision for the Argentine referee, Néstor Pitana, and the time he spent badyzing replays was telling his own story. Eventually, the decision went against Perisic, because one could argue that his hand was coming out of an artificial angle. Even that, however, was not clear since he was stooping. Was Matuidi's head squared or was she heading towards a teammate? The answer is no, to both questions. But maybe that's not relevant. The ball hit Perisic's hand, though he knew little of it, and that was enough for the decision to be taken against him, as difficult as it may seem. Griezmann held his courage to guide the penalty to Subasic and, after almost four minutes of arguments and counter-arguments, France was back in the lead
The match was still played well until that Pogba does 3-1 just before the hour. a shot from the left foot after Mbappé and Griezmann placed him on the edge of the penalty area. Pogba's first effort comes from a Croatian defender. The second was more controlled, Subasic misplaced in the process, and when Mbappé moved away to shoot in France's fourth goal six minutes later, he was beginning to feel that it could become a rout .
Lloris made the final score more respectable from a Croatian point of view and, with 20 minutes of play to play, they kept moving forward, trying to achieve an unlikely exploit of escapism. It was too late and the jubilant winner could soon be seen throwing Deschamps in the air.
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