France vs. Croatia 2018 World Cup Final: 5 things to know

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Sunday , one month and one day after the start of the 2018 World Cup, it will be crowned by the biggest match of international football: France or Croatia will be crowned world champions, here are five things to know about the match and a prediction European teams dominate the World Cup

A European final was secured in the semi-finals, when Croatia played against England and France against Belgium, even in the quarter-finals with only two South American teams (Uruguay and Brazil) compete against six Europeans.Whether the winner on Sunday, a European team will again be world champion.

On the last eight finals of the World Cup, including the -c i, only two were won by teams Brazil, 1994, 2002) .Remove Brazil and you have to go back to the triumph of Argentina in 1986 to find a non-European winner. Europe of course has a statistical advantage, with 14 participants who started this tournament (13 more qualified hosts of Russia) compared to South America, for example, which had five representatives.

Croatia is the smallest nation in the final for 68 years

With only 4.2 million people (comparable to Oregon or Kentucky), Croatia is the smallest country in reach the final since Uruguay in 1950. -1 (although pedantism insists that the match of 1950 was not technically "final" but the decisive match of a group of four teams). In terms of success, Croatia declared its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991.

While not wishing to diminish their performance in the final, it must be remembered that Croatia was fortunate enough to be on the less intimidating side. the draw. I have already pointed out the good fortune of England and Croatia has made a similar race, with Denmark, then Russia and finally England. None of the three are in the top 10 rankings of FIFA (Croatia is 20th). Maybe Croatia deserved its chance after being drawn into the toughest tournament group, before beating Argentina, Nigeria and Iceland.

Luka Modrić Vs. N & # 39; Golo Kanté

Regular readers will know that I am a big fan of Modrić, the little Croatian skipper, and Kante, a pocket dynamo for France. As he has been throughout the tournament, Modrić has played a crucial role in leading his country to a nervous victory in the semifinal against England. Initially well mastered by a prepared English midfielder, Modrić struggled to enter the match while Croatia was at halftime 1-0. In the second half though, he showed why he is one of the best players in the World Cup, drifting to the right wing and finding the space to pull the strings. Aged 32, Modrić knows it's his first and probably last blow to the glory of the World Cup with his country and you would not bet against him by bringing in another performance. .

N & # 39; Golo Kanté will attempt to stop it. Chelsea midfielder is happy to be the unsung hero of the French side (though many are now singing his praises) and a key cog in their machine that ran to the finals. Since France has reached the knockout stages, Kanté has been Mr Consistency, striker, intercept and harass without the ball, and keep France with it. He did an excellent job of keeping Belgian creative forces quiet in the semifinals and he will be asked to do the same against Croatia.

Croatia is good in penalty. Is France?

Croatia had two grievous penalty kicks (and three sets of extra time) in the tournament. In the knockout stage against Denmark, Croatia goalkeeper Danijel Subašić saved three penalties and continued with another stop in the quarter-final against Russia. Croatia is only the second team in the history of the World Cup to win consecutive penalty kicks and if they meet again, they will be confident with Subašić between the posts.

France did not participate in a 2006 final shootout when they lost to Italy. They avoided the dreaded kicks in the knockout stages and did the same during their run to the finals of the 2016 European Championships. France may not need to be skeptical. worry about his lack of recent experience: besides his 2006 defeat, only one of the other 19 World Cup finals was sanctioned (Brazil's victory against Italy in 1994).

been here before

This is the third final participation of France in the World Cup in the last six tournaments. In 1998, as a host, France won a great national pride by winning the trophy for the first time, beating Brazil completely in the final. The captain that day, Didier Deschamps, will lead the French as coach Sunday. They also tasted the final defeat of the World Cup, losing on penalties against Italy in 2006. More recently, as organizers of the Euro 2016, France s & # 39; 39, is imposed in the final against Portugal. They lost, 1-0

This is the first appearance of Croatia in the final, a performance that exceeds the famous "golden generation" which finished third in 1998. It is tempting to think that Croatia could to be quite happy with that, or tired of three extra laps, but the chance to become only the ninth nation to win the World Cup will shoot them.

Prediction

The French fans may not thank me after having managed to make both forecasts but I think that France will win. Croatia has managed to go so far, but they have to be tired after such an exhausting race, despite what Modrić says. Even fueled by adrenaline, Croatia meets a French team that has seemed able to climb to a level when they need it. In the image of the semi-final against Belgium, I think France will have a goal and will hang on to it. I'm waiting for France to become world champion, with a 1-0 win.

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