France is the new World Champion as they defeat Croatia in a thrilling finale in Lazhniki Stadium, Moscow. The ultimate game of the world cup had everything, goal galore, youngest scorer after Pele, Controversial VAR penalty, own goal, goalkeeping error and many more. World Cup final used to be a tense game with goals very hard to come, but this time it was a different story. Six goals were scored between the sides, and it is the highest number of goals after 1958 when Brazil defeated Sweden 5-2.
<grammarly-btn>In the thrilling match, Croatia started brilliantly controlling the possession and pressing high but was unfortunate to fall behind as Mandzukic scored in the wrong nets in 18th minutes. After 10 minutes, Ivan Perisic scored another brilliant goal to bring Croatia back in the game. After the VAR controversial penalty and a calm finish by Griezmann, France again took the lead. After the break, Croatia was back full of spirit and energy to get back in the game and made a couple of brilliant attempts but Pogba scored another goal out of nothing for France. Mbappe soon added another goal and led Croatia down and saw no chance to get back in the game. They got one goal as a gift as Mandzukic scored after a blunder by Lloris. Now both teams were waiting for the final whistle and France won the World Cup with the scoreline of 4-2.
Besides the World Championship to France, there were many individual award winners as:
Golden Glove Award: Thibaut COURTOIS
Golden Ball Award: Luka Modric
Golden Boot Award: Harry Kane
FIFA Fair Play Trophy: Spain
French Player's Performance
France conceded 2 goals means, a point is deducted for all backline players and defenders. Lloris was not tested a lot, and he could not do anything about that Perisic shot. But he did a blunder that resulted in the second goal. He was lucky that France was already home by then. Pavard had a silent game, not much to do, but Croatian pressed down his end. Both Umtiti and Varane was solid at the back and stopped Croatia from creating chances although Croatia was pressing high. Hernandez was excellent today, provided an assist for Mbappe goal and conceded a yellow card for fouling Rebic. He scored 4 points for his managers. Kante was in fault for Perisic goal and conceded a yellow card for tripping Perisic to stop the counter-attack. He was substituted to avoid a red card, thus he gets 0 points in fantasy.
Pogba was excellent in his most important game of life, did nothing wrong and scored the biggest goal of his life. Thus, 7 points for his managers. Matuidi had a quiet game but supported the front line very well. Mbappe was quiet in the first half but was very dangerous in the second half. He scored final goal for France making him the second teenagers after Pele to score in World Cup Final. His managers earned 6 points. Another wonderful performance by Griezmann as his freekick resulted in the first goal and took penalty calmly to restore the lead for France. His managers earned 6 points too. Giroud had nothing to show in terms of goals but did his duty brilliantly to free other French players.
Croatian Player's Performance
France conceded 4 goals means, 2 points are deducted for all backline players, thus 0 points unless they scored or assisted. Subasic was not tested a lot in the first half except that own goal and penalty but he was the poorest player in the pitch in the second half and didn't show any efforts to save goals from Mbappe and Pogba. Vrsaljko was at fault for Mbappe goal as Hernandez easily caught him. Lovren was poor too and struggled to keep track of French player and caught out many times and same goes to Strinic. Vida was poor defensively but he assisted Perisic goal and earns 3 points for his managers. Brozovic was better Croatian player today and controlled the midfield very well and also supplied his forwards.
Rebic was not at his best today and looked tired while going forward, and one of his brilliant shot was saved by Lloris. Modric was tired too, and couldn't do a lot to win the World Cup for his country but did win the Golden Ball. Raktic played an important role in Croatia's domination in the first half but didn't perform well in second half. Perisic was brilliant today and scored a brilliant goal to bring back Croatia in the game but was unfortunate to be penalized with VAR controversial penalty. He gets 7 points in Fantasy. Mandzukic had mixed hame too, scored an own goal early in the game. Also, he got the gift from Lloris which he converted into the goal but the game was already done by then. He got 6 points for his managers.
How do you rate the player's performance today? Who was your best player today? For me, it was Mbappe.
How do you rate French and Croatian performance in final?
Thanks,
@lawlees
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