France look to wipe the pain of Euro 2016 Fractious history between finalists goes beyond pitch
Favourites Le Bleus destiny in their own hands as they gear up to face Croatia in the final on Sunday
MOSCOW:FRANCE fine-tuned their preparations for the World Cup final against Croatia on Friday, desperate to overcome the bitter disappointment of losing the Euro 2016 final.
Didier Deschamps’ France are firm favourites to win Sunday’s showpiece and become world champions for the second time — 20 years after their first triumph in 1998.
But they will come up against a hungry Croatia boasting one of the players of the tournament in Real Madrid star Luka Modric, who is desperate to win the trophy for the nation of just over four million people. France failed to click in the group stages but they have gone up through the gears during the knockout rounds and look a formidable blend of youthful vitality and experience. They will approach the match at the 80,000-capacity Luzhniki Stadium full of confidence and with the pain of losing the final of Euro 2016 on home soil to Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal spurring them on.
“The tears have dried from Euro 2016 but it’s still there in a little corner of people’s minds,” said midfielder Blaise Matuidi on Friday.
“It will be useful for us on Sunday, even if I don’t like to keep bringing up the past. It will serve as a lesson to us and it means we know what it is to play in a final. We’ll approach it differently and hope that we play really well and win it. It’s up to us to put everything into place to achieve our dream of lifting the World Cup.”
France are packed with attacking stars such as Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann but it is their defence that has shone in the past two rounds, not conceding a single goal.
France’s truly impressive display in Russia was their epic 4-3 win over Argentina in the last 16, when they cut through Jorge Sampaoli’s dishevelled side on the counter-attack as Kylian Mbappe used his frightening power and pace to devastating effect.
That thriller was followed by solid 2-0 win over Uruguay in the quarter-finals and a slender 1-0 victory over Belgium in the semis. In both games they found an opening from a set piece and then sat back, ceded possession, stayed solid and looked to pick their opponents off on the break.
Croatia — the smallest nation to make it to the final since Uruguay in 1950 — have battled through three periods of extratime to reach the final. That means they have played the equivalent of a whole extra match more than France.
But coach Zlatko Dalic said there would be no excuses despite their exertions.
“We prepared to get to the final and we want to play it,” he said. “Going to extra-time might be a problem along with the fact France have had an extra day to recover but there will be no excuses.” Deschamps, who captained France to glory in 1998, is the present coach of the French team. The 49-year-old is aiming to join Mario Zagallo and Franz Beckenbauer as the third person to win the World Cup both as a coach and a
player.
(Defender)
(Defender)
(Midfielder)
(Forward)
(Midfielder) The star goalkeeper took up a career in motorsports after retiring from professional football in 2007. He raced for the first time at the Porsche Carrera Cup France in 2008. This year, the 47-year-old participated in his fourth race. Desailly, who was nicknamed the Rock for his playing style, has settled well as a broadcaster and columnist post retirement. The 49-year-old is also a Laureus Academy member and Orphanaid Africa Lifetime ambassador. He scored the third goal in the 1998 final. He is currently an ambassador for the Homeless World Cup movement. The 47-year-old is also the French brand ambassador of online trading broker, Ufx.com. Vieira coached New York City in Major League Soccer (MSL) in the United States after ending his playing career. The 42-year-old is currently the manager of French league team Nice. Known for his versatility during his playing days, Thuram has built reputation as a political activist, campaigner and charity worker since his retirement. The 46-year-old is currently also serving as a UNICEF Ambassador. After his football career got over, Lizarazu chanced his arm in Brazilian jiu-jitsu (a kind of martial arts). This year, he was named an ambassador of German club Bayern Munich. The 48-year-old is also a good surfer and appears on French television as a football pundit. Djorkaeff currently runs the Youri Djorkaeff Foundation. Founded by the 50-year-old footballer, the New York-based foundation works for the empowerment of under-privileged children. Boghossian, who once served as an assistant coach of the national team, is currently one of the technical directors at the French Football Federation. The 47-year-old Guivarch, who’s name means 'stallion' in the Breton language, now lives in his hometown of Concarneau and sells swimming pools. He is currently the Strategic Advisor of Olympiacos FC. He is also part of a Paris-based firm that works for the expansion of football with a Pacific Island team. MOSCOW: One of the most notorious dives in football history took place the last time France played Croatia in the World Cup.
Les Bleus led Croatia by a goal in their 1998 semi-final at Stade de France when French defender Laurent Blanc gave Slaven Bilic a slight shove on the chest in jostling during a free-kick. Bilic shouted and slammed the palm of his hand into his face, as if he had been struck on the head. Spanish referee Jose Manuel Garcia bought the act in the pre-video review age, and Blanc was ejected for the first time in his career.
Despite seeing the replay afterward, Fifa refused to retract the penalty. Blanc missed the final, when France beat Brazil 3-0 for their only World Cup title.
BACK TO PRESENT
Croatia advanced to their first World Cup final with a 2-1 extratime win over England on Wednesday night, a day after Les Bleus beat Belgium 1-0. The match two decades ago remains on the mind of current Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic.
“Maybe the dear Lord is giving us an opportunity to settle a score,” he said.
A victory in the final for the team known for its redand-white checkered jerseys would be the nation’s greatest sporting moment since breaking from Yugoslavia in 1991 — a year after its national football team started playing.
France are a European football power, their team able to draw from a population of about 65 million. “They have upped their game over the past several games,” Croatia’s Ivan Perisic said. Croatia has just over 4 million people, the fourth-smallest of the 32 World Cup teams ahead of Panama, Uruguay and Iceland. It has a chance to be the least-populous nation to win since Uruguay took the title in 1950, when it was a nation of just over 2 million.
“We’re a small country with so many successful sports people,” defender Dejan Lovren said through a translator.
Les Bleus won the European Championship at home in 1984 and in the Netherlands in 2000. But there have been no trophies since current coach Didier Deschamps lifted the World Cup as captain on July 12, 1998 — 5 months, 8 days before star striker Kylian Mbappe was born. They lost the 2016 Euro final 0-1 to Portugal at Stade de France with a roster that included nine holdovers on this year’s team.
NO REPEAT
“Two years ago it was tough,” said one of the returnees, goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. “We don’t want it to happen again. We want it to end in the best way.”
Croatia were under French control from 1809-14, part of the Illyrian Provinces, an autonomous area of Napoleon’s First French Empire. They have played France five times, losing three games and drawing two. The only other meeting at a tournament was in the group stage of the 2004 European Championship, when a controversial referee’s call went against the Croats.
Goalkeeper Tomislav Butina’s clearance was blocked at the top of the penalty area by the hand of David Trezeguet, who kicked the ball into the net for an equaliser in the 64th minute of a 2-2 draw. Danish referee Kim Milton Nielson allowed the goal. Nielson had called a questionable foul for a free-kick that led to Zinedine Zidane scoring the opening goal in the 48th minute.
Croatia went ahead in the 1998 semi-final only 26 seconds into the second half when Aljosa Asanovic split the defence with a pass, and Davor Suker scored his fifth goal of the tournament. Lilian Thuram tied the score after a minute. He later scored the go-ahead goal with a curling shot in the 70th, and France won 2-1.
Now Suker is the president of the Croatian football federation. The national team was forced to play a Euro qualifier against Italy in an empty stadium in June 2015 because Croat fans had thrown flares on the field during a match against Italy in Milan.
A swastika became visible on the field of the closed-doors match, caused by a chemical agent put in the grass at Poljud Stadium. That led UEFA to deduct a point from Croatia, ordered to play two additional games without fans and fined €100,000.