From VAR to penalty shoot outs, from last minute winners to ‘its coming home’, this World Cup really has had everything and Sundys clash between Croatia and France should be the perfect way to end off such an amazing month of football.
Croatia
Surely they can’t do it? Well don’t write them off just yet. Croatia announced themselves at the World Cup when they thrashed Argentina 3-0 in the group stages and have carried that momentum through the knockout stages.
Whilst not always convincing, their never say die attitude has seen them win two penalty shoot outs and beat England in the semifnal to get where they are and they will no doubt want to go all the way.
Luka Modric, Ivan Perisic, Ivan Rakitic, Mario Mandzukic and Danijel Subasic have all played their part as the top players in the team and the hopes of the Croatian nation will be firmly on their shoulders.
Zlatko Dalić has created a strong unit and has instilled this side with a belief they can win that few people would have thought was even possible given the strength of their opposition.
Croatia have no doubt won the hearts of many and this will remain even if they do not win the trophy.
France:
They will go into the clash as the favourites and deservedly so as Didier Dechamps side have only gotten better as the tournament progressed and will be hoping that they peak when it counts to emulate the victory from 1998.
Legendary names such as Zinedane Zidane, Didier Dechamps, Emmanuel Petit and Marcel Desailly who are all synonymous with the 1998 World Cup victory might now be joined by the likes of Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe, Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kante.
France has been tactically astute and used their squad well over the length of the tournament and alongside being the stronger side on paper, will be significantly fresher heading into the clash having played 270 minutes of knockout football compared to Croatia’s 360 minutes.
Predicted Line-ups:
France
Croatia
Betting: (As of skybets)
Outright win:
France 4/9
Croatia 7/4
Full Time Result:
France win 10/11
Draw 11/5
Croatia win 19/5
How the tie will be decided:
Croatia in Extra Time 18/1
Either Team in Extra Time 11/2
France on Penalties 9/1
Croatia on Penalties 9/1
Either Team on Penalties 4/1
Spot bets
Antoine Griezmann to score anytime 2/1
Kylian Mbappe to score first 11/2
Ivan Perisic to score first 14/1
Paul Pogba to score from outside the penalty area 16/1
France to win 2-0 15/2
Croatia to win 2-1 20/1