How Favourites France eased past courageous Croatia to World Cup victory

Twenty years after winning its first FIFA World Cup in 1998 as an 'underdog', France on Sunday repeated history in Russia as the world favourites defeated Croatia 4-2 in a high-octane final at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.

Carrying huge expectations on its shoulders, the French side didn't have an easy run at the 21st edition of the FIFA World Cup, despite being beefed up with a list of top football club players including Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid), Paul Pogba (Manchester United), N'Golo Kante (Chelsea), Hugo Lloris (Tottenham Hotspur), Samuel Umtiti (Barcelona), Corentin Tolisso (Bayern Munich), Blaise Matuidi (Juventus) and Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain).

France won their first two group games without showing their best form as Antoine Griezmann and Paul Pogba were not playing. They beat Australia 2-1 and Peru 1-0. They booked their spot in the round of 16 after a goalless draw against Denmark.

However, it was their 4-3 win against Argentina in the round of 16 that brought France into the limelight. There was certainly no looking since then.

In its dream run, France toppled Uruguay 2-0 in the quarter-finals and defeated critics' favourite Belgium 1-0 in the semi-final, thereby fixing a final match against Croatia.
What happened in the final was as expected.

Fantastic France 

A rampant France dominated the underdogs Croatia at Luzhniki in a match that saw class and controversy in equal measure.

Croatia were a threat but France managed to absorb the pressure and then played like the superior side they were.

Despite Croatia having 61 percent possession in the game, France never panicked in the final and finally got paid off for their versatility, accuracy and strength. 

Own Goal

France took lead in the 18th minute after Mario Mandzukic scored an own goal while heading away a free kick from Antoine Griezmann. 

Though Ivan Perisic's super strike soon found an equaliser for Croatia, the high voltage final later witnessed a major twist in the 38th minute as the referee gave France a penalty which Griezmann converted into the goal.

WAR on VAR

Griezmann delivered a corner from the right for Blaise Matuidi to attack at the near post, but the player simply nodded the ball onto the nearby Perisic, and the appealed for a penalty.

Argentinian referee Nestor Pitana consulted VAR and although replays showed it may not have been intentional, pointed to the spot. The Croatian players surrounded the penalty spot to protest and leave Griezmann with what must have felt like an age to take the penalty, clutching the ball under his arm in anticipation of taking a spot kick in front of Croatia's main end of fans.

The number 7 made no mistake in sending Subasic the wrong way and the ball into the left hand corner of the net.

Pog-Boom

Following that, midfielder Paul Pogba's top corner in the 59th minute and Kylian Mbappe's low strike in the 65th minute took the momentum away from Croatia and gave France a 4-1 lead.

Mbappe ran down the right-hand side to leave the Croatian defence in disarray as he centered the ball for Griezmann, who spotted Paul Pogba lurking on the edge of the area. The Manchester United man’s original right foot shot was blocked but when the ball landed at his feet a second time the midfielder slotted a left foot strike past Subasic. 

Six minutes later, Mbappe found acres of space to fire low and hard in the bottom left hand corner. 

Lloris Horror

French goalkeeper and captain Hugo Lloris was guilty of losing focus as he attempted to dribble out from his own goal. Mandzukic’s tackle was enough to dispossess the experienced stopper and notch a Croatian second goal.

Croatia pushed hard to force a third, they couldn't find another opening as time agonizingly ran out for them. 

To watch this high octane encounter, French President Emmanuel Macron, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic and Russian President Vladimir Putin were among the 10 country leaders present at the venue, which had around 80,000 capacity in total.