" World Cup finals have been low-scoring and tense of late - this game equalled the combined total of goals scored in the previous four. The last final to have more than two goals was in 1998 - the other time Les Bleus won the World Cup. It was also the joint highest goal tally in a final since 1958 when Brazil beat Sweden 5-2 ". World Cup 2018: A classic final to cap an epic World Cup
Good post. Own goal- for once Lovren wasnt involved! Expected Croatia to keep fighting to the end- Manzudic shouldnt have scored, but perseverence has its rewards (Lloris changed his mind when clearing) For mine, the highlight for any coach would be showing Pogba's goal- sheer class- striking attempts with both feet is what should be expected of all professional footballlers. Whats the odds of Croatia featuring in next WC?
Good assessment. Agreed - watching their games, couldn't help thinking what a damn shame Urzil isn't Croatian. :-)
Croatia were really unlucky to lose imo. Griezmann dived for the first goal and the penalty should never of been given. France's squad depth was superior though. They could bring on the likes of Fekir, Tolisso and Dembele while Croatia didn't really have good enough players to bring on.
Fantastic tournament, best World Cup I have watched. Huge f you to anyone who confidently said or even wanted dull contests or something bad to happen just in order to have a dig at the host nation. Croatia getting squashed never gets boring. Allez! Shame it took this long for that to happen, thanks a lot England and the rest. But putting all the tensions aside, congratulations to them on a run to the final. Made a small 4 million nation very proud. As much as I dislike them, we can learn a lot from their football approach, and I hope we do that some day.
Well done France. Best squad won, even if they didn't play the most exciting football at times. Mbappe is ridiculous.
I assume you mentioned that somewhere on here before your bet actually won did you? If you did, then fair play to you. If you didn't it probably never happened.
Depends on how you view classic matches. I look for quality football ahead of goals scored. Croatia played some good stuff but France were pretty bad to watch. It was a decent final though mainly because of Croatias willingness to play attractive football
Appreciate the opinion but I disagree. You make your own luck in tournaments and some of the play between Belgium's midfield was fantastic. No shame in having one of the best goalkeepers in the world on form (we should know). When they switched it on I thought they were brilliant, that team goal scored by Chadli a great example but some of the interplay between their midfield was a delight to watch. If you want to mention the luckiest team, surely it would be England? Last minute goal vs Tunisia, having a minnow in the group to thump, winning a penalty shootout after almost throwing the game away against Columbia, a "favourable" game against Sweden and finally undone by a much better side in the semi but not before extra time. You could say our run was the luckiest and no different to how you described Belgium but we put ourselves in that position and we didn't mind
One of the French keepers got a winners medal but has not been capped by France. The last player to get a winners medal having not played for the national team was Franco Baresi for Italy in 1982.
That diagonal pass from Pogba that resulted in him scoring a few seconds later was one that will live long in the memory. Rio Ferdinand made me chuckle when he said that pass was naughty.
