The World Cup Final: France vs Croatia (Kickoff 16H00 BST)

11101 said:
You had more of the ball, but rarely threatened close to the French goal. Lots of wild shots and speculative efforts, but it was telling that France had more shots on goal despite the difference in possession and total shots. France were nervous at the beginning but they still managed the game well enough to keep Croatia a safe distance from goal.
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France didn't have more shots on goal.
 
Ban said:
I think tiredness set in. after 4th goal it's all fuzzy to me. :D
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Well at the risk of sounding patronising, they should be (and the country) incredibly proud in getting there. Great achievement.
 
BusbyMalone said:
Well at the risk of sounding patronising, they should be (and the country) incredibly proud in getting there. Great achievement.
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They should be and they are. We all are. :) Obviously this game will haunt us but on the other hand it's a huge achievement.
 
GiddyUp said:
After Tim Howard swallowed the 24 shots at him against Belgium in 2014 he said, on tv, that the US produce the best keepers in the world. Full. Of. Shit.
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He's like that often. Labels players world class when they're clearly not on that level, has argued that the college system in the US is just as good as the academy system anywhere else*, and on and on. He's like a paid cheerleader for all things must be positive for the US leagues and players.

*He pointed out how the likes of Dempsey et al have performed at top levels for top clubs and the US. Yet, imagine how much better Dempey et al could have developed by training in proper academies from an early age versus dysfunctional travel youth clubs and a collegiate system that stunts sporting growth in the sport.

As for Howard, that was for me the greatest goalkeeping performance I had ever witnessed, at any level or event.
 
Big congratulations to France, great team with great players. Their immense talent production deserved a World Cup, looking forward to Euro 2020 already.
 
Well done to France. The two decisions from the referee from which France scored their first two goals was shocking, it was no way a free kick or penalty. But I think France would've won anyway, they were clearly the better team and deserved it. Croatia deserve huge credit too, they were fantastic the whole tournament and would've been worthy winners too.

The final itself didn't feel like a final for some funny reason. I guess I'm used to seeing tight and cagey affairs in world cup finals - such as the previous three. I mean it's good to see a lot of goals, but for some funny reason I think I prefer the close and tense finals where it's usually just the one goal that separates the two teams.
 
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Congratulations to France, they were consistent the whole World Cup and were the better team. Today they showed again that what’s matter in football are shots on target and goals, not silly “possesion”! Tiki Taka has been dead since 2014. Teams that held possesion this WC were defeated! Verticality is what win games! Goals are what win games, not side passes!

Sorry for the rant. I hate “possesion” based football, and hate cnuts as Xavi or Guardiola who believe it’s the only valid way to play the game. Spain had “possesion” and had the most side passes... They were defeated by RUSIA! LoL

Good play by Croatia. Historic result for them. Modric indeed deserve the Golden Ball! Not like the white walker Messi in Brazil.

I’m happy for Pogba, world champion and scored in the final! I want to see that Graeme nobody face!

Lloris was possessed by Karius... No, wait, he plays for Spurs, so he was going to bottle it some way or another.
 
To think how bad De Gea and Lloris's errors were at this World Cup, and Karius did two similar errors consecutively in the fecking Champions League final.
 
Ban said:
Oh for sure. Proud for them.
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I supported them in every one of their game except the final. Really this team has impressed me a lot. I think if Croatia scored first and kept possession, they would have won. Chasing the game is what hurt you the most. Fine margins, harsh scoreline
 
giorno said:
It's the accent, not the language. They say 4-twenties-four to say 84. I rest my case :D
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That was the worst fecking thing I had to argue for when I started taking French. People didn't seem to get thqt 80 is not a number, they call it 4 20s.
 
kouroux said:
I supported them in every one of their game except the final. Really this team has impressed me a lot. I think if Croatia scored first and kept possession, they would have won. Chasing the game is what hurt you the most. Fine margins, harsh scoreline
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3rd goal killed us I thought. And the penalty. You come back then concede again, it's hard to come back aftrr that again.
But deserved from France, strong and effective team with a bright, bright future ahead.
 
Horrible way to lose a final.
Give me all the Mbappes of the world to decide big moments in games, that’s what I want to see - not the refferee.
Shocking decisions for 1st and 2nd france goals, the second especially.

I’d rather get outclassed and lose 7-0 than like this, but oh well.
Having said that, France is a great team.
 
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11101 said:
They pressed France hard but rarely got close to scoring, along with smart fouls to stop play every time France looked like breaking. You could tell from the beginning Croatia couldn't keep that pace up. Kante was struggling under the press but once that eased off and Nzonzi came on it was very comfortable for France. They just had to manage the game in the first half. It was a very Liverpool like performance from Croatia.

After the Croatia reaction to the semi i'm glad France put 4 past them but i doubt it would have been much different had England been there instead of you. Our side of the draw was just that much weaker.
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Croatia were easily the better team in the first half. An own goal and a very dodgy penalty helped France to have a 'comfortable' second half.
 
Paul Pogba should come out with a twitter statement "My thoughts are with Souness at these difficult times"
 
Ban said:
3rd goal killed us I thought. And the penalty. You come back then concede again, it's hard to come back aftrr that again.
But deserved from France, strong and effective team with a bright, bright future ahead.
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Yeah, the penalty and Pogba's goal decided the game.
 
Croatia deserves a lot of praise for making it to the final. Rarely seen players give so much throughout the tournament.
 
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Ban said:
3rd goal killed us I thought. And the penalty. You come back then concede again, it's hard to come back aftrr that again.
But deserved from France, strong and effective team with a bright, bright future ahead.
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Thing is if that penalty never happens you don’t have to leave the spaces you did for France’s 3rd goal. I honestly feel that stupid penalty decided the game, which is very unfortunate and ref should hang his head in shame imo.
 
Classical Mechanic said:
Croatia’s bizarre set piece defending is why they scored an OG. That’s on them. The penalty was curious though.
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I didn't say the own goal wasnt their fault. It is a stroke of luck for France though. I mean noone will care since they finished in style but France were shockingly bad till they took the lead.
 
After the groups France were consistently very good throughout the tournament. They did it the hard way as well. Argentina - Uruguay - Belgium - Croatia

Credit to Mbappe for outperforming Messi, Ronaldo and Neymar on the world stage at 19.
 
France are deserving winners.

Outscored Argentina's attack
Won against the best defence (Uruguay)
Silenced Belgium's attacking threat
Won against the best midfield (Croatia)
 
Redplane said:
That's pretty badass. Clearly put a lot of effort into that without necessarily knowing it would be used.
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They do those projections quite often. I assume they have something permanently installed.
 
Lam said:
France are deserving winners.

Outscored Argentina's attack
Won against the best defence (Uruguay)
Silenced Belgium's attacking threat
Won against the best midfield (Croatia)
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..and eventually became the best midfield unit after defeating them.
 
It's tough to take this, Griezmann dived before first goal, and that penalty was never a penalty. There is simply zero intention to play the ball, Perišić was in the air and he was too close to the french player. And we absolutely dominated them in the first half, and to concede 2 goals like that. Fecking football.

I'm from Croatia, and let's be honest, I'll never watch Croatia in the World Cup Final again, so this really hurts. So fecking close.
 
In regards with out president, although I disagree with her in every fecking thing and despise her politics, you got to give it to her, bloody fantastic PR campaign.

In the last month she won the next elections.
 
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