When the decisive blows arrived it was the entire France squad in the victory scrum by the corner flag. Hugo Lloris, the goalkeeper, had run the entire length of the pitch. All the substitutes were disappearing under one another. There were even a few members of the backroom staff contemplating joining in, and who could blame them? France were on their way to their second World Cup and a party was already under way behind the goal where the tricolours were fluttering.
Not even Croatia, with all their powers of durability, could recover from the second-half goals that Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappé scored in quick succession to open up a three-goal lead and ensure France will soon be wearing a shirt with two stars, rather than one, above their cockerel. Didier Deschamps has become only the third man in history to win the World Cup as a player and manager, standing alongside two giants of the game in Mario Zagallo and Franz Beckenbauer. Mbappé is a world champion at the age of 19 and, in the end, the embarrassing lapse from Lloris to let Mario Mandzukic pull one back for Croatia will not matter greatly.
Written by Daniel Taylor at the Luzhniki Stadium
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jul/15/france-croatia-world-cup-final-match-report under the title “France seal second World Cup triumph with 4-2 win over brave Croatia”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
