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MOSCOW (AP) – One of the most famous dives in the history of football was the last time France played against Croatia in the World Cup.
The Blues led Croatia in the semi-finals at the Stade de France Defender Laurent Blanc gave Slaven Bilic a slight kick on the chest by jostling at a free kick. Bilic screamed and slammed the palm of his hand into his face, as if he had been hit in the head. Spanish referee Jose Manuel Garcia bought the act at the age of pre-video, and White was ejected for the first time in his career.
Despite the resumption, FIFA refused to retract the penalty. Blanc missed the final when France beat Brazil 3-0 for their only World Cup title.
Croatia reached its first World Cup final with a 2-1 overtime victory against England on Wednesday night, a day after Les Bleus beat Belgium 1-0. Two decades ago, the current coach of Croatia, Zlatko Delic, remains concerned about the match. "
" Perhaps the dear Lord gives us the opportunity to settle a score "because his red and white checkered jerseys would be the nation's greatest sporting moment since his departure from Yugoslavia to become an independent state in 1991 – a year after his national football team started playing.
Ivan Perisic said:
Croatia has a little over 4 million people, the fourth smallest in the Cup 32 world teams in front of Panama, Uruguay and Iceland.He has a chance to be the least populated nation to win since Uruguay took the title in 1950, while he was a nation of just over 2 million.
"We are a small country with so many successful sportsmen" Defender Dejan Lovren said through a translator. "The Blues have won the Home European Championship in 1984 and the Netherlands in 2000. But there was no trophy since current coach Didier Deschamps won the World Cup as captain. July 12, 1998 – 5 months, 8 days before the birth of star striker Kylian Mbappe. They lost the European final 1-0 against Portugal at the Stade de France with a team that had nine hold-ups this year
"Two years ago, it was hard," said l & # One of the returnees, the guard Hugo Lloris. "We do not want this to happen again, we want it to end in the best way."
Croatia was under French control from 1809-1814, part of the Illyrian provinces, an autonomous zone of Napoleon's First French Empire.
He played five times in France, losing three games and shooting two. The only other encounter at a tournament was in the group stage of the 2004 European Championship, when a controversial referee call went against the Croats.
Permission from goalkeeper Tomislav Butina was blocked at the top of the penalty area by David Trezeguet, who threw the ball into the net to tie in the 64th minute of a 2-2 draw. . Danish referee Kim Milton Nielson allowed the goal to get up. Zinedine Zidane's goal was scored by Zinedine Zidane in the 48th minute.
Croatia qualified for the 1998 semi-final 26 seconds from the end of the second period when Aljosa Asanovic dismissed the defense, and Davor Suker scored his fifth goal of the tournament. Lilian Thuram equalized the score a minute later after stealing Zvonimir Boban's ball near the Croatian penalty area and swapping passes with Yuri Djorkaeff. Thuram scored the decisive goal with a curling shot in the 70th minute, and France won 2-1.
Now, Suker is the president of the Croatian Football Federation, much criticized. The national team was forced to play a qualifying match for the European Championship against Italy in an empty stadium in Split in June 2015, as Croatian fans had launched rockets into the field during a match against the Azzurri in Milan. A swastika became visible on the field of the match, caused by a chemical agent placed in the grass of the Poljud stadium. This led the governing body of European football to deduct a point from Croatia, ordered to play two more games without the fans and a fine of 100,000 euros (then 117,000 dollars).
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More AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/ WorldCup
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