‘Les Bleus have won the

2018 World Cup’

32 countries battled for title of best soccer team in the world. In the end it was France who prevailed.

France was just a little too much for Croatia as they ran away with a 4-2 victory.

The scoring began with an own goal that came from Mandzukic after a French free kick. As has been per usual in this tournament, France took the lead and never looked back. Croatia was able to tie the game at 1-1 with a stunning goal by Perisic. But right before the end of the half and with the help of VAR, a correctly called penalty was awarded. Griezman buried it to put France ahead 2-1.

In the second half, France began to run away with the game. It got to the point where Croatia had to take chances to equalize. Consequently, they became vulnerable on the counter attack. Pogba and Mbappe quickly netted two quick goals to extend the lead to 4-1. Croatia was able to make it 4-2 to close out the game’s scoring. Lloris became sloppy with the ball and Mandzukic capitalized to score for their second goal.

French Fans in Euphoria

This is the second title for France and first since 1998. They currently trail Brazil (5), Germany, and Italy (4) who have won more. They now share the same amount of titles as Argentina and Uruguay.

Below are the highlights: credit FOX Sports

https://youtu.be/fY3Z3od-kE8

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It all comes down to this. 

France vs. Croatia 

Can the second smallest country in the World Cup take down a soccer giant? 

Croatia won their group by beating Argentina, Nigeria, and Iceland.

From that point on they won in penalties against Denmark and Russia. Just when you thought they were headed to a third consecutive shootout, they scored in the second half of extra time to reach the place we are at now: the World Cup Final.

Croatia Possible Starting Lineup:

• GK- Subašić;
• D-Strinić, Vida, Lovren,Vrsaljko
• MFs-  Brozović, Perišić, Rakitić, Modrić, Rebić;
• F- Mandžukić

France also won their group with victories over Australia, Peru, and a draw versus Denmark.

Their prize for winning the group was a matchup against Argentina, which may go down as the most exciting game of the World Cup tournament this year. They then had to beat Uruguay and everyone’s dark horse favorite Belgium to reach the final for the first time since 2006, where they lost to Italy in penalties.

France Possible Starting Lineup:

• GKLloris
• Ds- Hernández, Umtiti, Varane, Pavard
• MFs-Kanté, Pogba, Matuidi
• Fs- Griezmann, Mbappé, Giroud

France – Croatia History

France leads 3-0-2 overall, 1-0 in World Cups, and 1-0-1 in official competition.

Past Meeting

In Euro 2004, France fought back in a memorable game to help Les Bleus to a 2-2 tie with Croatia in the second game of the group stage. Croatia seemed to never recover from that game and lost to England in the knockout stage. The French lost in the quarterfinals by Greece.

The most recent game was a friendly played by these teams in 2011.

Verdict: France is a well-organized team and has had to play tough teams to reach this point. They have also tasted defeat in a final in Euro 2016 as Portugal beat them on their homeland, and will do whatever necessary to avoid another defeat in the last game.

Croatia has been beating the odds this whole tournament and have played more minutes than any other team. They will dig deep to reach the pinnacle of being a champion.

Croatia will lift the trophy for the first time this Sunday as 2018 World Cup Champions.

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