fatigue, the other opponent of the Croats

They borrowed "the difficult way" to reach the final. As their coach, Zlatko Dalic, points out, Croatia will, on Sunday, July 15th, "undoubtedly become the first team to play eight matches in the history of the World Cup" . For since the end of the group stage, the Vatreni ("flamboyant") have played extra time in the eighth (1-1, 3-2 on the table against Denmark), quarters (1-1 , 4-3 on the table against Russia) and semi-finals (2-1 ap against England). Three times thirty extra minutes in ten days, the equivalent of a meeting more than the Blues, their opponents in the final.

And these extra long minutes, backed by a day of recovery and less than the French, could influence the Croatian game in the final match of the competition. Never in history has a nation made it to the finals after winning three games after extra time. And only two teams managed to conquer the title having spent more time on the field than their opponent in the final: Italy (in 1934, 1938 and 2006) and France (1998). At the last World Cup, Lionel Messi's Argentina reached the final after playing two extra times. With the result that we know against the Germans, who had spent less time in the field.

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Having only seventy-two hours of recovery before the final, the Croats may arrive on the Moscow meadow on the kneecaps. "Three days of recovery, it is short underlines the Parisian the former doctor of the Blues, Fabrice Bryand. At the level of the regulations, it is the minimum time necessary to not put the health of the players in danger. It allows to evacuate the toxins, to redo the energy stock but it is not really enough. "

Offset by an unwavering will

Despite a heavy work on recovery, the Croats " will not be physically cool details to The Team Alexandre Dellal , former physical trainer of Nice. For them, a fourth extension, it would be almost inhuman. Especially at the end of the competition. However, the French must not rely on a failure of Vatreni at the time of fighting for the world title.

Because the men of Zlatko Dalic compensate for their lack of freshness by an unshakeable will. "The Croats are necessarily tired, underlines Gerard Houllier in his chronicle in World . But we can also say that they can only believe in their star after such a journey. After the semi-final against the English, the Croatian coach put forward "the strength and the energy that have deployed" his players. And to specify having "wanted to change players, but nobody wanted to go out" . It was only at the 95 ^e minute that he made his first change. In spite of several players handicapped by small wounds, "everyone kept telling me" I'm ready, I can still run ", welcomed Dalic

And running, they did it. Since the beginning of the competition, the checkered players have traveled 723,909 km in Russia (against 607,409 km for the Blues) according to the figures of FIFA. But the Vatreni do not care. "It seems that the longer matches last, the better we are physically " said Wednesday Monaco goalkeeper Danijel Subasic. We've been shown to be on top physically, just get ready. "We know what is at stake and in these moments, we forget all fatigue because it is an opportunity that may never be represented completed before the semifinal teammate Dejan Lovren. And we are professional enough to know who needs what to recover ". Even with one day less than France.

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"A small inequity between the two teams"

This additional day of rest "will not necessarily be decisive, but it induces a small inequity between the two teams", reports to Temps the former French triathlete, Grégoire Millet, now professor at the Institute of Sports Sciences at the University of Lausanne. Especially in the middle, because one recovers more quickly its qualities of speed and explosiveness than endurance. "To restore sprint skills, it takes 48 hours, so there will be no problem in this regard, even for the Croats " says the researcher, specialist in physical preparation and the optimization of training methods. By cons, to regain its ability to produce large volumes of racing, it takes between 72 and 96 hours. We can therefore imagine that Croatian recovery media will suffer more from residual fatigue than their French counterparts.

Especially since the circles of the Balkan country have not balked at the task since the beginning of the competition. Modric, Rakitic and Perisic have all traveled more than 60 km since the start of the World Cup, and are closely followed by several of their partners. On the French side, only the indefatigable rifleman – obliged to point out that he had "only" two lungs – Ngolo Kanté, has traveled similar distances (in ninety minutes less).

the first half against England, the Croatian playing masters, starting with their "Little Mozart" Modric, seemed leached, blunted. Without losing their technical accuracy, at the moment of getting into the final. "The fatigue will not alter the ability of Luka Modric to succeed a long cross millimeter complete Grégoire Millet in the Swiss daily. We are faced with players who have such a technical background that even physically blunt, they succeed their actions.

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                2018 World Cup: Luka Modric, great player and little perjurer
    

When it comes to playing the first World Cup final in their history (twenty-seven years after the independence of the country), Croatia does not intend to leave heavy legs to deprive it of a coronation. "We will not be scared on Sunday. I'm sure we will recover in time " reassured the coach. "When we play a final, fatigue passes after added French defender Samuel Umtiti Friday. We do not think much about a match, we think we can be world champion, even with fatigue. They will be there, they will be present, they will continue to run as on all their matches. Tired or not, he and his teammates to smash the Flamboyants Sunday on the meadow of Moscow.