FRANCE 4 : 2 CROATIA<\/strong><\/p>\nFrance are the 2018 World Champions after deservedly beating Croatia 4-2 in an entertaining final.\u00a0Didier Deschamps became only the third person to win the coveted trophy as a player and a manager following in the footsteps of Franz Beckenbauer and Mario Zagallo.<\/p>\n
The game had it all, a penalty awarded through VAR, an own goal, a pitch invasion, thunder and lightening and some cracking goals in open play to provide a wonderful signature to a great tournament.<\/p>\n
France took the lead through a Mario Mandzukic own goal in the 18th minute. As befits a tournament characterised by set pieces, his header came from a free kick dropped in the danger area by\u00a0Antoine Griezmann. Croatia had been the better side until then with a possession advantage that they retained throughout the match.<\/p>\n
Ten minutes later, the Balkan side deservedly equalised ironically after France’s best spell of the game to that point. Ivan Perisic used both feet to set up an attempt after a corner was poorly cleared and hammered the ball through traffic past Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris.<\/p>\n
Inevitably, the VAR raised its ugly head as it has done so through the Finals. Seven minutes before half time, France were awarded a penalty\u00a0after Argentinian referee Nestor Pitana consulted the\u00a0VAR and saw Perisic’s outstretched\u00a0hand divert the trajectory of the ball.\u00a0Griezmann converted it to give Les Bleus a 2-1 half time lead.<\/p>\n
Two goals in six minutes after the interval put France into an unassailable lead and both were works of beauty.<\/p>\n
Firstly though, Deschamps made a courageous decision to replace another player of excellence who was sadly having an off day. He removed Chelsea’s out-of-sorts midfielder\u00a0N’Golo Kante with the much less heralded\u00a0Steven N’Zonzi of Seville. History and hindsight\u00a0proved him a genius as N’Zonzi tightened up France’s hitherto loose footprint on the midfield. Thereafter the game swung irresistibly towards the dark blues.<\/p>\n
Just before the hour mark, Paul Pogba, who had defied club critics in England, set Kylian Mbappe\u00a0 the later to be crowned Young Player of the Tournament<\/em>\u00a0free down the right where he found Griezmann in space.<\/p>\nGriezmann returned the ball to Pogba on the edge of the box. His first shot was blocked but ever alert, he reacted first and made no mistake with the second effort to make it 3-1 to France with exactly one third of the game left.<\/p>\n