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12: France on his heels
A dozen minutes and Mbappé's only contact was in defense. Griezmann may not have touched at all yet
10: Croatia controls this game until now
Modric, using the outside of his right foot , opens the French with a beautiful cross-field ball at Strinic, but Umtiti clears his cross. Nice time though, one of many for Croatia in the first 10 minutes where they had almost all the ball.
Victor Mather: The French defense has been forced to clear the ball seven times already. Croatia has only one game.
8: Corner for Croatia
Strinic and Rakitic make a nice game there in the left corner, and Pogba has to come for cut first when he receives the ball in the area. Corner in Croatia
Grioud wins in front of Lloris, and the French are trying to go out
6: Croatia tops the rankings and volume
The atmosphere here is good better since a few we had in the semifinals. This is largely due to the Croats, who took several sections behind their goal and who, sometimes, simply jog. The French contingent, much smaller, on the other end of the line has not yet encouraged much.
5: Croatia continues to attack
Vrsaljko sinks for a moment in the right wing and shoots in a cross, but once again is there to clear . Solving Varane and Umtiti will take better balls than this one, but it's a good thing for early Croatia.
Victor Mather: Let's say this about Croatia: The team is not afraid to shoot. Entering this game, he has 100 hits, third in the Cup behind Belgium (who played one more game) and Brazil. But the accuracy was not sensational: only 26 of these shots were on target, far behind Belgium and Brazil.
3: Varane the extinct
Perisic probing the left is the first real test for France, but Varane, so smooth, slips and closes everything.
1: Kickoff! That ball out of bounds near the first minute was the first French touch of the day. It will be perfect for Croatia
The Anthems
Kylian Mbappé was absolutely beaming during the French anthem. One day when it would be understandable to be as tense as a 19 year old, the joy on his face was wonderful. I wonder if that suggests a big day ahead of him. "I want to win the World Cup," he said this week. "I want to sleep with that."
Final of the World Cup: the man in charge
The referee today is the Argentine Nestor Pitana, a veteran with smooth hair and a the look of a colonel of the Argentine army. It does not generally tolerate fools, but definitely wants to stay out of action today.
The video assistant referee is an Italian, Massimiliano Irrati. The teams leave the tunnel. Almost the hour.
Good news: France will be in blue today, allowing Croatia to wear its fantastic checkered jerseys for the first time since the group stage.
France vs Croatia: chances
The tipsters clearly favor France in this match. France is considered a 45% chance of winning the match by regulation, Croatia being only 23% (the other 32% of the time will go into overtime). As for the final winner, he is 65-35 for France
The over / under, as is the case for many international football matches, is 2. At 5-1, Antoine Griezmann of France is the favorite to score the first goal. Two other Frenchmen follow him, Mbappé and Giroud.
The composition of France
No change in the France team, which is not a surprise. Didier Deschamps remained more or less with the same starting lineup throughout the tournament. Expect them to line up in the same 4-2-3-1, with Giroud at the front as the spear's point and Griezmann, Mbappé and Matuidi buzzing around him.
Goalkeeper: 1 Hugo Lloris (Tottenham)
Defenders: 21 Lucas Hernandez (Atletico Madrid), 2 Benjamin Pavard (Stuttgart), 5 Samuel Umtiti (Barcelona), 4 Raphael Varane (Real Madrid)
Field: 13 N & # 39; Golo Kante (Chelsea), 14 Blaise Matuidi (Juventus), 6 Paul Pogba (Manchester United)
Forwarders: 9 Olivier Giroud (Chelsea), 7 Antoine Griezmann (Madrid Atletico), 10 Kylian Mbappé (Paris St Germain
Starting Composition of Croatia
Croatia has familiar faces Brozovic did a lot of support work against England to allow Rakitic and Modric to work freely. and Rebic will have to be active again on the wings, to try to stagger the French and create holes … Many have tried, however;
Goalkeeper: 23 Danijel Subasic (Monaco)
Defenders: 21 Domagoj Vida (Besiktas), 3 Ivan Strinic (Milan), 6 Dejan Lovren (Liverpool), 2 Sime Vrsalj ko (Atletico Madrid)
Midfielder: 10 Luka Modric (Real Madrid), 7 Ivan Rakitic (Barcelona), 11 Marcelo Brozovic (Inter Milan)
Forward: 4 Ivan Perisic (Inter Milan), 18 Ante Rebic (Fiorentina)
17 Mario Mandzukic (Juventus)
Striker Nikola Kalinic of AC Milan is the only one who will certainly not play today. he is registered as absent on the team sheet of Croatia
France will not underestimate Croatia
Kylian Mbappé, 19, gave all the good warning notes on Croatia Friday.
"Even when you think they're losing or crunching, they still have the mentality of coming back," he said. "It's a team that plays with a lot of people." 39, intensity. "
Croatia, surprise finalist
Croatia, a nation of 4.5 million people who gained independence in 1991, would not be the smallest country to win the World Cup (this title remains probably that of Uruguay). But that would probably be the biggest shock of the history of the World Cup. Even Uruguay, winner in 1930 and 1950, could claim to be the best team in the world in case of victory. But there has not even been a surprise finalist since Czechoslovakia in 1962.
Mbappé has his priorities in order
The Frenchman Kylian Mbappé won the Golden Ball in as the best player in the world. "I do not care about that," he says. "I want the World Cup, I want to sleep with that."
Who is Zlatko Dalic?
It is safe to assume that few football fans in the world could have chosen Croatian manager Zlatko Dalic before the tournament. Although he had a long professional career as a defensive midfielder, mainly with Croatian clubs Varteks and Hadjuk Split, his coaching career is nothing remarkable. His previous three positions before taking up work in Croatia were with two Saudi clubs and another in the United Arab Emirates.
But when Croatia fired the coach who had led most of the qualifications, Ante Cacic, after a series of poor results The team's chances of qualifying for Russia, Dalic was charged to lead the team on the line. He guided him with a light touch here, making some compositional changes and acknowledging that he deferred to his players. (Asked why he did not participate in the 90-minute run against England in a grueling semifinal, despite the fact that his players were out consecutively, Dalic admitted, "I wanted to replace, but no one wanted to be subbed. "A New Chance for France
This is France's second big consecutive final.He reached the finals of the European Home Championship in 2016, but has lost to Portugal on a goal late in extra time, 1-0, some people point out this defeat – a bitter disappointment after their methodical move from the field to the final – as the danger of conservative instincts of the director Didier Deschamps. still falls today as a favorite, expect the first fingers to point to him
France vs. Croatia: a friendly rivalry
Do not be surprised if there are a lot of cuddles and of salutati In the tunnel before the match: Antoine Griezmann and Sime Vrsaljko are teammates of Atlético Madrid, as are Raphael Varane, Luka Modric and Mateo Kovacic at Real Madrid. Mario Mandzukic and Blaise Matuidi play together at Juventus (where Paul Pogba was employed before joining Manchester United), and Croatian goalkeeper Daniel Subasic and Frenchman Djibril Sidibe are in Monaco, where until the end of the season. last year they attended the rise of Kylian Mbappé. Additional game for Croatia
With three more victories in the round of 16, Croatia has actually played one more match than France here.
Hugo Lloris Will not Wander
There may be no better example of the security mentality before the game of goaltender Hugo Lloris. A skillful wandering player with his feet for his club, Tottenham Hotspur, he is under orders not to roam for France. He was credited with just 11 saves in six games, but many of them were memorable game changers – against Belgian Toby Alderweireld in the semifinals, against Uruguayan Martin Caceres in the quarterfinals – says a lot about the success of the strategy. 19659063] Graphic
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