World Cup 2018: 3 reasons why France will beat Croatia
After one month and a total of 62 matches of pure fun, the FIFA World Cup 2018 has reached the culmination of its journey. In the end, it will be France and Croatia, who will battle it out for the biggest prize in World football.
Although France has won the World Cup once in 1998, the Croatians are going to participate in their first ever World Cup final.
France will be heading into the World Cup final as clear favourites, given their talent and squad depth, but the French side, which was expected to blow their opponents out of the water, still hasn't been able to move out of the second gear.
Still, the Frenchmen traversed through the Group as well as knockout phases without much fuss and are on the cusp of yet another International title.
The Croatians, on the other hand, had to struggle to get through the Knockout rounds, after breezing their way past a stern test in the group stages.
But still, the Croatians managed to hold their nerves and are about to become the ninth team overall to lay their hands on the World Cup trophy.
Although there is no dearth of quality and experience in the Croats, there are still a few chinks in their armour, which can be exploited by Les Blues. So without any further ado, here are the three reasons why France will win beat Croatia to Win the World Cup in Russia:
Note- All stats have been taken from whoscored.com
#3 Defensive solidarity
Although the current French team is known to have an unparalleled attacking talent, it has been their defence that has been the major enforcer in their journey to the World Cup final. Their defence has been the unexpected forte in this World Cup and Umtiti and Varane have been in scintillating form.
Such has been the defensive solidity of France that only Argentina was able to score against them from open play. The rest of the lot had to rely on penalties and corner kicks to breach the French defence. Although the pessimistic approach of the team has resulted in narrow victories, their defence has looked assured and has fared well under pressure.
Coupled with the fact that they have arguably the best defensive midfielder in World Cup in N'golo Kante, who has managed to pull off an impressive 2.3 tackles and 3.2 interceptions per game, the defense of France looks all set to frustrate the Croatian attack and will play a pivotal role in deciding the outcome of the game.