The World seemed to come to a complete stop for two hours as Croatia and France met on the pitch for the right to call themselves World champions. As we know, France came out victorious and will now have a second star in their jersey. But how did you see the game? Our PerSources staff writes their post match analysis and how they saw the game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fY3Z3od-kE8
Cam (@CamB_PerSources): One team was a favorites to win the tournament and one of the dark horses to win it, to no surprise for me the favorites won. France and Croatia played out an entertaining final that saw six goals, which was the highest scoring final in the 90 minutes since 1958 when Brazil beat Sweden 5-2. Croatia came out early and dominated possession and pressuring France in the midfield. Despite not having much of the ball France grabbed the first goal after a Antoine Grezimann free kick was deflected in by Mario Mandzukic. The free kick was won after a Grezimann flop just outside the box. The Croats responded with Ivan Perisic, who scored the goal of the final. Great touch at the top of the box shifting it to his left and finds the bottom corner. At 1-1 it was game on, until VAR came into affect. A corner swung in and hit Perisic on the arm and the referee called for a goal kick. The referee than went to VAR and instead awarded a penalty, which was dispatched by Grezimann leaving the game at 2-1 heading into the half. France were than able to sit back and play off of the counter. N’Golo Kante, in my opinion player of tournament for France, had to be subbed off after 55 minutes due to a stomach bug for Steven N’Zoni, giving Paul Pogba license to go forward. From that point France scored twice in ten minutes and put the game out of reach. Pogba played a wonderful play for Mbappe to recieve a cutback to make it 3-1. A few minutes later Lucas Hernandez burst down the left wing to set up Mbappe his fourth goal of the tournament. Croatia pushed as much as they could nicking back a goal after a Lloris error, but that would be the only goal they could find finishing 4-2. Paul Pogba was my man of the match as he opened up play and scored to seal it for France. Overall France were my prediction before the tournament started and they proved through the month long quest that they were World Champions.
James (@PerSources_JP): Amidst the heavy rains during the celebrations, the sun set on the greatest World Cup of this generation. France, who came in as heavy favorites, proved their worth from the opening game all the way through Hugo Lloris receiving the World Cup trophy from FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
The highest scoring final since 1958 featured an own goal, VAR, stunning goals and a massive goalkeeping err (which would become forgotten once the celebrations began). Mario Mandzukic opened the scoring for the opposition when he flicked on Antoine Griezmann’s free kick, which shouldn’t have been given. Croatia responded brilliantly and equalized through Ivan Perisic after a well-worked free kick routine.
The pivotal moment came when VAR was called upon to award France a penalty in the 38th minute. A front post header off a corner was heading towards goal when Perisic outstretched arm knocked it down. Originally given as a goal kick, Nestor Pitana was convinced enough after reviewing the incident and Griezmann capitalized from the spot.
Second half goals from Paul Pogba and Best Young Player of the Tournament Kylian Mbappe gave France a 4-1 lead. Mandzukic pressure on Hugo Lloris forced the error that got the Croatians back within two with over 20 minutes to play.
After comebacks in its three previous knockout round games, Croatia’s magic would see them fail to comeback for a fourth consecutive game and see France add a second star to its jersey. While celebrations for the French will carry on for sometime, Croatia will return home with an equal amount of pride for their performances throughout this World Cup that will be remembered for years to come.
Quinn (@QuinnM13): That’s a wrap. What a World Cup. What a final. Croatia came out hard in the beginning and dominated. They created many chances, played well defensively and owned possession well into the first half. As France settled into the game,, things began to shift back and forth between the sides. An unlucky foul call on Croatia on what seemed to be a dive from Griezmann led to an even unluckier own goal from a skid off Mandzukic’s head. Perisic had a wonderful display of composure inside the box to even up the count and inject life into the game. His magnificent goal was followed by the first ever penalty called in a Final using the VAR system. It’s unlucky, but it’s the rule and if you take the time to watch the replay over and over before making the call then it is easy to see that it was indeed a handball. A stunner each from the 2014 Best Young Player and the soon to be 2018 Best Young Player put the French ahead by a margin simply too difficult to come back from. A mistake from Lloris breathed an ounce of life back into the Croatian side but the score remained 4-2 with the French holding up that beautiful trophy at the end. It was a very good game. Take away the poor foul call, and the VAR system and it could have gone either way. I was hoping for it to be closer in score but Croatia gave it all they had and in the end, came up just short. Luka Modric is well deserving of the Golden Ball as he never disappoints. His ball movement abilities, calmness with the ball and his vision across the field are unlike no other. Congratulations to the French and their second ever World Cup win.
Tincho (@MP_persources , @tincho_persources):We have a new World Cup champion! Didier Deschamps men lifted the trophy yesterday after beating Croatia 4-2 in front of a packed Luzhniki Stadium. After an eventful final which included the first own goal in a final of the World CUp, a penalty decided by the VAR and a masterful goal by Ivan Perisic, Hugo Lloris lifted the trophy under the pouring rain. For the first time since 1998, there were more than two goals in a World Cup final. An overall exciting game in which the best team did not necessarily win but alas, that’s the game.
To the blind eye, France was dominated most of the game by Croatia who controlled the possession and had more chances to score. However, Deschamps understood that Croatia was more vulnerable in the counter and prefered to have his team sit back and invite Croatia to play out wide. It was nothing new coming from a french side that had defeated Argentina and Belgium in similar fashion. Set pieces and counterattacks were France’s biggest strengths over the course of the tournament and coincidentally, all four goals were products of the two. Critique them all you want for playing counter attacking football but I’m sure Pogba and the boys won’t mind as they hold the World Cup trophy.
Croatia learned that they simply didn’t have the World class firepower to compete with France. That simple. All the kilometers in Modric’s legs finally caught up to him and the Real Madrid midfielder had a relatively quiet game. They became another example of empty possession going nowhere. As much as I admire teams that dominate possession and look to play to feet as much as possible, I also understand that possession means nothing if you can’t put the ball in the back of the net. Croatia had a few chances on goal but didn’t really test Lloris much in the second half. Every cross they sent in was won by either Varane or Umtiti who were amazing yet again. In Croatia’s defense, it wasn’t necessarily a bad game from their side, France simply had a better game plan that they ran to perfection.
