Final of the 2018 World Cup: 22 potential starters for France against Croatia, ranked

The final of the World Cup will be held Sunday between France and Croatia, and unless there are surprises, we are pretty sure that will be the 22 beginners in the game. So let's classify them, huh?

It's a totally silly exercise, but no matter, we have two days to the final and this banter is not going to bother, is not it?

In the ranking!

22. Olivier Giroud

Olivier Giroud is a formidable striker whom I have defended for years. He did not finish that pass from Mbappé in the semifinals, however, I will never forgive him. And I'm classifying it here last, out of pure rancor.

21. Marcelo Brozović

Brozović is only 25 years old, the young pistol in the central midfielder of Croatia, but his versatility has made him someone that they had to get into the ## 147 ## 39; alignment. He runs and frees up space for Rakitic and Modric, and that's fine!

20. Dejan Lovren

Dejan Lovren told the media after the semifinal that he is one of the best defenders in the world. If the word "better" means "to do anything less to kill an attacker than it is somehow not expelled", he is absolutely right.

19. Blaise Matuidi

Matuidi is a good defensive midfielder who is asked to play out of position on the left wing, and to his credit he does a pretty good job. Once again, everyone in the World Cup final is extremely good. It's hard to do.

18. Ante Rebic

In fact, I love Rebic, and it's an underrated thing to have someone on your side who's going to run around a shit and to cause problems. Paulinho has made a career of it. Rebic is great at this.

17. Samuel Umtiti

Umtiti scored a huge goal for France this tournament, and his calming presence in the back was vital. He is sometimes eclipsed by his other central defender partner, Rafael Varane, but that should not hurt his health.

16. Domagoj Vida

The blonde ponytail. The first name on Stranger Things. Vida is as visually iconic as any player we've seen in this tournament, but his excellent game in the back has been what kept Croatia in many games.

Photo of Dan Mullan / Getty Images

15. Ivan Strinic

Strinic was fantastic to the left for this Croatian team, playing beyond what I thought he was able to do for much of the tournament. I'm not sure that his legs did not fall with all the racing he had to do, but that's true for everyone on this side of Croatia.

14. Lucas Hernandez

Hernandez was fantastic for France, and although it did not have an iconic moment like Benjamin Pavard did with this marvel of purpose, it must have been just as important.

13. Benjamin Pavard

Looking at this team from France to come in World Cup, Benjamin Pavard is out. Like, all these names, and what the hell was he doing there? He only left and probably became the best back in the tournament.

12. Sime Vrsaljko

Remember when I said that Pavard was going and was perhaps the good return of the tournament? Uh, he might not even be the best back in this game. I do not have any sense, I know it, but again, at this point, everyone has been brilliant. Vrsaljko plays for Atletico Madrid, so it should not be surprising that he is excellent in defense, but I did not think he was as good.

11. Ivan Perisic

I did not think Perisic was doing all this great tournament compared to what I know he can do, to be honest, but then he went to get Croatia's first goal in the semifinals against England and played one of the games of his life. He is special.

10. Danijel Subasic

I do not know how Subasic plays at this stage. I thought that he pulled his hamstrings against Russia. Then he went and won the shootout, and was brilliant against England, and I will never doubt him again.

9. Rafael Varane

Varane is a special, special defender, and has been rocking back for France en route to this final. It is clear that someone in my Best XI for the tournament can only be the ninth best player in this game, but I tell you, these are two extremely good football teams.

8. Hugo Lloris

Photo of Alexander Hassenstein / Getty Images

My choice for the tournament goalkeeper, Lloris managed to s & # And improve competition has become fiercer. It's easy to say when you have this defense and this midfielder in front of you that you do not have to do much, but Lloris had to do a lot, and answered the call every time.

7. Ivan Rakitic

He is often eclipsed by the brilliance of his midfielder, Luka Modric, but that should not hurt the quality of Rakitic. It's hard to play simply. Rakitic did it by playing multiple roles according to what was needed and doing all that brilliantly.

6. Antoine Griezmann

Griezmann had to push back a little further this tournament to adapt to the plans of Didier Deschamps, but he did it admirably, filling in as a support striker and falling back to the midfielder to help his team in possession.

5. Mario Mandzukic

My vote for the most underrated player of the last decade, Mario Mandzukic is the all-out striker whose dreams are made. In addition, no living player takes better pictures.

4. Paul Pogba

Pogba is the player to whom you can assign anything you want. If you wish, you can see him as a breathtaking box-to-box player with a generational touch and a brilliant vision. Or you can see him as a talented but frustrating gambler who wastes too many opportunities and is content with too long shots. I go with the first option, but the choice is yours.

3. Kylian Mbappé

The star of the tournament shows us, at age 19, what it is possible to do on a soccer field. Watching him gain confidence during the tournament, to be excited to be there and to join in this team, to the slow realization that he made that no one on Earth can m & rsquo; Stop, was one of the best things about watching this World Cup.

2. Luka Modric

Your likely Golden Ball winner, Modric has been so brilliantly devastating this World Cup that it's hard to put it into words. It's not just the distance he has traveled (40 miles of this tournament, the largest number of players), but the way he did everything for Croatia: his creative spark, his engine midfielder, his security blanket. Everything goes through him. If they win, it will be the biggest reason why.

No Golo Kante

I have already written a long ode to Kante this week, so I will not do it anymore. But there is a reason why football focuses on this player. He took the midfield defensive position, which I thought was perfected by Claude Makelele, and improved. He's the best I've ever seen, and the reason, I believe, France will win the World Cup final.