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If you had Croatia against France in the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals, you won your game pool.
I mean, who had Croatia against France? in the tournament. Croatia had a shot of 33 to 1 to win the tournament, ranking 11th out of 32 teams. That was true, even though the Croatian midfielder included Luka Modric from Real Madrid (who started in the Champions League final) and Ivan Rakitic from FC Barcelona (who started 31 league games in La Liga) . : World Cup Finals: France Opens as a Great Favorite
So how did we get here? More in loop than one could imagine. It was not just because Croatia was brilliant and tireless (she was) and France was episodically dazzling and perpetually clinical. Many things have happened to many teams en route to France against Croatia, giving the French a chance to become the sixth nation to win the tournament twice and Croatia to become the ninth nation to win only once.
Here are 10 excellent reasons why we stopped here:
1. Spain pulls a Schembechler. Real Madrid should have known better than hiring the Spanish coach on the eve of the World Cup, but the Real World is all about Real Madrid. It was surprising, however, that after this apparent subterfuge the Spanish federation chose to send coach Julen Lopetegui back with the national team just days from its opening in Russia.
Schembechler, when he fired Bill Frieder in March 1989 to accept the work of the Arizona State effective at the end of the season, did not have much to lose. The Wolverines were a No. 3 seed, a threat to run in the NCAA tournament, but did not expect to win. Spain was a favorite in this World Cup, and there is only one of these events every four years.
Spain has put forward common sense in expelling Lopetegui and hoping for a man with very little coaching experience, Fernando Hierro put the team in the best position for to win.
He did not do it. Spain 's only win in four matches was Iran, with a margin of 1-0.
Hierro was not Steve Fisher, as he turned out.
2. Belgium 1, England 0. When they arrived in the last game of Group G, England and Belgium were already qualified for the knockout stages. They were also tied to almost all the real metrics (goal differential, goals scored, etc.) and were going to be split by the "Fair Play" standard if they were to play a draw. It seemed like it would favor England.
Adnan Januzaj went all out in the air by scoring a nice goal in the second half, giving his team a 1-0 lead that England never seriously threatened. Belgium won the group – and finished in the half much more difficult of the slice.
The Belgians had to beat Japan, Brazil and France to reach the final. They came a short. Had they finished where England had done, crossing Colombia and Sweden to find themselves on the ground with Croatia, who knows?
3. Germany is running out of gas. Coach Joachim Low should have learned something when he faced an energetic and hungry team at the Confederations Cup last summer.
He relied on veteran players like Mesut Ozil and Sami Khedira, forward Mario Gomez and goalkeeper Manuel Neuer. Khedira gave little to Germany, Ozil less, and Gomez did not mark the exit from the bench. Neuer had missed months with an injury and was not the heroic goalkeeper who had dominated when Germany won the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
PLUS: The Croatian firefighters miss PK to go on call [19659002ThebestplayerinGermany-deloin-aelwasyoungerthanJoshuaKimmichaged23
4. The disaster of Argentina. It is difficult to explain the real dysfunction of the Argentine national team in the final stages of Lionel Messi's international career, but one way to explain it would be to emphasize that the staff of Coaches could not deploy Gonzalo Higuain or Sergio Aguero in a match against mighty France.
Aguero scored 21 goals in 25 league games last season for Manchester City. Higuain has scored 16 goals in 35 league games for Juventus.
If these two elite forwards against France had led the team to build a coherent and impenetrable defense, this approach could have been understandable. Instead, Argentina dropped four goals in the round of 16, the bulk of any team in the knockout phase.
In four matches, Argentina has granted nine goals in total. No one else allowed more than seven.
5. The injury of Edinson Cavani. Towards the end of what was otherwise an important triumph for Uruguay, the choking and elimination of the champion of Europe Portugal in the round of 16, Cavani s 39 is injured in the calf and had to be helped on the ground by Cristiano Ronaldo
had scored both goals in this match, each a dazzling strike that resulted from a huge combination play. Without him against France in the quarterfinals, Uruguay had nowhere the necessary offense to advance.
Essentially, there was no offense. The Uruguayan midfielder lacks creativity, forcing the team to rely on his tense defense and the ingenuity of his forwards superstars, Cavani and Luis Suarez. Without his partner, Suarez was most often isolated and stranded.
6. The yellow of Casemiro. Brazil having a 1-0 lead over Mexico after nearly an hour and watching the biggest threat of scoring – what he finally did – his great defensive midfield, trying to Prevent a counterattack, performed a side tackle against Hirving Lozano who was deemed to be too aggressive.
Casemiro was presented with a yellow card. Because it was his second of the tournament, he was suspended for the quarter-finals. This development has been as damaging for Brazil as any other tournament. Without him to watch the middle, the Belgians Eden Hazard and Kevin De Bruyne owned their quarterfinals, and they also received help from striker Romelo Lukaku
when Lukaku carried the ball in before with Belgium already a goal Casemiro's substitute, Fernandinho, could not put himself in a position to stop or reorient him – and went astray on the best stroke of the day. 39, Lukaku advance. Brazil's next option should have been a tactical foul, but Paulinho refused that tactic, so Lukaku went on until he found De Bruyne on the right, and he shot a shot in the goal for a 2-0 lead that Brazil could not overcome. 19659002] 7. The obsession of Brazil (Gabriel) Jesus. While Roberto Firmino had just spent a season of 10 goals in the Champions League for Liverpool, Brazil's coach, Titus, decided to place young Gabriel Jesus in the lead of his attack at the World Cup. World. It was a reasonable decision, because Gabriel Jesus was also fresh from a great season with Manchester City, with 17 goals in 42 appearances.
It was reasonable until it did not work. It did not work at first, did not work in the middle and did not work in the end. At one point, this approach should have been abandoned.
Gabriel Jesus has never shown any degree of comfort since the first Brazilian striker, has never offered the Neymar star an inviting option, has never threatened opposing defenses. The best that can be said of his game is that he has not blown a lot of good chances, although it's mostly because he's barely created it. He only got one shot on the target in five games.
As Brazil was eliminated by Belgium in the quarter-finals, Tite chose to go with Gabriel Jesus once again and got the same result. He went to Firmino earlier than in all previous games, but it was still too late.
PLUS: Thank you, England, for making us crazy enough to believe
8. Rakitic and the left-wing post. Modric's brilliance throughout the tournament did not prevent his team from ending up in shots on goal in the round of 16 and quarter-finals, and each time it was Rakitic who was about to go on the spot with the possibility of advancing Croatia. tournament's he scored.
What he did. Each time, he hit in the same direction, and each time he found the net.
In fact, with a place in the semifinals, it was a little shocking that Russian goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev did not anticipate Rakitic's scheme that had worked for him in the previous round against Denmark. Akinfeev jumped in the opposite direction, and Rakitic plagiarized himself with another penalty worthy of a title.
9. The invisible Paul Pogba. We refer to his apparent transparency because that's the only explanation for the little credit he's getting for driving France to his third World Cup final over the past 20 years. last years. A controversial figure since his transfer to Manchester United – for a figure that, as things progress, now seems almost bizarre – Pogba was the best player in France.
He was a resolute force in the midfield, both offensive and defensive end. Pogba does not destroy attacks as a tackle and physical presence, but he constantly threatens to sneak up from behind, to steal the ball and launch an attack in the front, as he did for Antoine Griezmann attack in the quarterfinals against Uruguay.
At the end of the offensive, Pogba worked to create space and opportunities for Griezmann and other offensive threats in France. He did not score or help on a goal, but he participated in almost all the great moments of France.
Jose Mourinho seemed reluctant to present to Pogba the kind of freedom and responsibility that he justified with France. It is the prerogative of Mourinho. That's his team. But he leaves a tremendous asset. Russia 2018 has not taught us anything if it is not that.
10. Can-can of Perisic. Benjamin Pavard, the right-back of France, received a lot of love from the "Tournament Goal" for his remarkable goal by far in the 4-3 win against Argentina. Hopefully this will fade after what Ivan Perisic snatched with a goal that forced extra time against England and allowed Croatia to reach the final.
In the 68th minute, England points to his first goal of Kieran Trippier Vrsaljko was alone on the right side and accepted a long change from the opposite wing. He then pulled a nice curling cross to the far post. English central defender Kyle Walker was waiting for him and lining up a header clearance, but he did not know that Perisic was sneaking behind him, and Perisic lifted his left boot off the ground and sent it to the ball in front of the mutt. Walker. 19659002] It was legal limit – a high boot is supposed to be anything above the waist, and Perisic's hip was flexed to the sky – but that was allowed. As long as it was a good goal, it was a great goal.
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