World Cup Final Preview - France v Croatia
Monday 16/07/2018 - 1am
Odds: France $1.90, Croatia $4.50
The 2018 FIFA World Cup is down to just two teams with France battling Croatia for the chance to lift the Trophy and be crowned the best team in the World for the next four years. The final will be played at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on Monday morning at 1am.
France continued their defensive dominance in this tournament with a 1-0 win over Belgium. With just 36% of possession, France kept Belgium to just 3 shots on target. After a tense first half, France opened the scoring with a goal to Samuel Umtiti in the 51st minute, which would prove to be the match winning goal. As a result of their performances in this tournament, France is heavily favoured in the betting to win their first World Cup final since 1998.
Croatia's dream run in this World Cup isn't over as they progressed with another extra time win. This time they beat England 2-1 and reached their first ever World Cup final in the process. After a conceding an early goal in just the 5th minute, the Croatian's kept their cool and took their chances. In the 68th minute, Ivan Perišić levelled the scores with an interesting goal having raised his leg above the defender. In the end, the two sides couldn't be seperated in normal time so it went into extras. Croatia had advanced to this stage with two straight Penalty shootout victories so they would of been confident if that occured once again. However, Mario Mandžukić had different ideas with a match sealing goal in the 108th minute.
Road to the Final - France
France came into this World Cup as probably the third favourite behind Germany and Brazil. With Germany knocked out in the Group stage, France's passage to the final was a whole lot easier. Firstly, they won through a tough Group C with just 1 goal conceded against the Socceroos. They got the job done against Peru and didn't need to win their last game against Denmark. In the Round of 16, France's usually strong defence was tested against the attack of Argentina. But they would survive in a 4-3 win. They took on another South American team in Uruguay and showed they were the favourites for the final with a 2-0 win. Then as mentioned above, they knocked Belgium out of the tournament with a 1-0 victory.
Road to the Final - Croatia
Croatia kicked off this World Cup with no expectations of this side and that showed in a dominant performance during the Group stage. They easily got past Nigeria with a 2-0 win. Then, the Croatian confidence started to grow as they thrashed Argentina 3-0. In the end, they topped Group D with 3 straight wins and 7 goals to 1 conceded. They battled hard in their Round of 16 matchup against Denmark but prevailed in an always tense Penalty shootout. Their next opponent would comfortably be their toughest test so far as they met the host nation. In a high scoring battle, the two sides were forced to a penalty shootout after scores were level at 2-2. Croatia would again hold their nerve with a 4-3 win in the shootout.
Head to Head
France and Croatia have storied history at the World Cup. In 1998, they met in the Semi-finals on that occasion and France were victors 2-1 on their way to World Cup glory in their home country. Overall, Croatia hasn't beaten France in their 5 meetings but that should give them even more motivation this time around.
2011 - France 0, Croatia 0
2004 - France 2, Croatia 2
2000 - France 2, Croatia 0
1999 - France 3, Croatia 0
1998 - France 2, Croatia 1
Prediction
France are the favourites for this final and that's for good reason. They've arguably been the most consistent team in this World Cup and that mainly explains why they've reached the final. They're coming into the final with 2 straight clean sheets and that will be the key against Croatia.
Croatia has nothing to lose and they'll be throwing everything at France to win their first World Cup final. They came into this tournament with little expectation of making it this far and that could be scary for the French. Croatia can be unpredictable in attack and that could give them an edge against the well structured French defence.
In the end, I'm not 100% confident in an upset for Croatia but I do like the value on offer for both teams to score. France has scored 7 goals in their last 3 games and there's every chance they'll find the back of the net in the final. With the likes of Griezmann and Mbappé up forward, they'll be hard to stop. There's also the factor of Croatia coming into this clash with 3 straight extra time games. So their defence will surely be taken advantage of by France. For Croatia, they haven't been held goal-less in this tournament so far. So I do see them at least getting a single goal in this final. Enjoy the game!
