Behind the numbers for France and Croatia
- by Lana Bennett
- in Life&Culture
- — Jul 15, 2018
The 2018 World Cup in Russian Federation will be concluded on Sunday with France targeting their second trophy against a Croatia outfit competing in their first ever final.
France will also be spurred on by trying to put behind them the bitter disappointment of losing the Euro 2016 final to Portugal in Paris. "Millions of people are going to watch the final all around the world", he said. Averaging these two models gives us our final prediction of 62 to 38 in favour of France.
She said what makes this year's team great is their leadership, faith and hard work along with their coach, Zlatko Dalic, who's expertise has taken them a long way.
Deschamps, who captained the 1998 French side, has a chance to achieve the rare distinction of becoming only the third man, in history - after Brazil's Mario Zagallo and German legend Franz Beckenbauer - to win the World Cup both as a player and a head coach.
Les Blues will undoubtedly be looking to Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann to get the goals, with both players registering three goals each.
Paul Pogba will line up in central midfield on Sunday afternoon, when France take on Croatia.
More news: FIFA Confirm Final (Winter!) Dates for 2022 World Cup in QatarThen they hit form, sweeping aside Argentina in a match which announced to the world that Mbappe is set to be an global superstar as he scored twice and outshone Lionel Messi.
But apart from that 4-3 win, France have played like a Deschamps side, with the emphasis on defence. "We need to perform at a high level and deliver a ideal match to win", said the goalkeeper.
Wins over Jamaica and Japan sent Croatia through to the last 16, despite a 1-0 defeat by Argentina, then the fun really started as Suker scored the only goal to beat Romania and set up a quarter-final with Germany. We will see tomorrow.
Croatia will wear their famous red and white checkered shirt with white shorts and white socks in Sunday's final against France.
The Croats needed penalties to get over Denmark and Russian Federation in the round of 16 and quarter-finals respectively, while they dispatched England 2-1 in extra-time in the semi-finals.
Both the BBC and ITV have broadcasting rights for the World Cup, with fixtures split until the final. The atmosphere in the team has never been better, something the players have repeatedly said.
More news: India's Supreme Court Reconsiders Gay Sex Ban"That is not a sign of a struggling team, but one that has a lot of talent". We have a lot of respect for them.
They rode their luck against England in the first half and there is a question over whether Ivan Perisic's equaliser should have stood due to a high foot. "All my players tell me if they are not 100 percent fit".
France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris said the World Cup favourites are shutting out the mounting excitement at home as they focus on one final push against Croatia.
Croatia's 3-0 win over Argentina was a standout performance in the group stage.
Belgium proved too strong for England in Saturday´s third-place playoff as Thomas Meunier and Eden Hazard scored in Saint Petersburg and the Belgians bettered the achievement of their 1986 team.
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