Some parallels can be drawn between the France team of today and the team who managed to win the World Cup in 1998. And it is not just Didier Deschamps, who captained Les Bleus 20 years ago, and now is their head coach.

In 1998, France had some problems with strikers. Stephane Guivarc’h, who was in the starting line-up in decisive matches, failed to score a single goal. Thierry Henry and David Trezeguet had some impact, but were both still too young to play a key role. And Zinedine Zidane, whose two goals against Brazil are remembered perfectly well, actually had played some mediocre matches prior to the final.

That time, it was defenders who often made up for attackers’ lack of productivity. Laurent Blanc scored the winner in an extra time of the Last 16 with Paraguay, providing France with a 1:0 victory. And when the French were down 0:1 in the semi-final against Croatia, Lilian Thuram turned the game around by scoring twice. Actually Thuram won 142 caps for France during his illustrious career, but never scored except that very match vs. Croatia…

Now the picture is somewhat similar. There are enough attacking talents in France, but Deschamps opted to leave Anthony Martial and Alexandre Lacazette out of his 23-man squad, and such creative players as Nabil Fekir or Florian Thauvin spend most time on the bench.

Up front, the coach clearly relies on Olivier Giroud, but the veteran striker has not scored anything in Russia. Sure, he enjoys great support from Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappe, yet the most important goals are again - like in 1998 - come from defenders.

Raphael Varane opened the score in the quarter-final game against Uruguay with his header following a free kick. And in the semi-final against Belgium, it was another central defender Samuel Umtiti who scored the winner - once again with a header from a set piece, this time a corner kick.

Deschamps’ model of the game is clearly pragmatic, but it brings results. And to add some parallels to 1998, Antoine Griezmann should score a couple of goals in the final - just like the great Zidane did 20 years ago…