We learned from France vs Croatia match

Griezmann happy to win ugly

AFTER France secured their place in this World Cup final with a characteristically gritty 2-0 victory over Belgium, Antoine Griezmann made sure he found the time to respond to the sneering of Thibaut Courtois, who had accused his team of relying on “antifootball” in Russia.

“Does Thibaut Courtois think he plays Barcelona football at Chelsea?” he mocked. “We don’t care about it. We don’t care how we played… we won. I don’t care how, I just want a second star to be on this shirt. That is all.”

And so France’s opening two goal – a whipped Griezmann freekick into the penalty area, diverted into the net by the top of Mandzukic’s head, and a rather fortuitous penalty – felt oddly fitting.

A fitting goal for a final

If France’s opening two goals were ugly, Croatia’s first was a thing of beauty. Ivan Perisic built the goal as well as finishing it: around 40-yards from goal he drew a soft foul, with Luka Modric floating the freekick to the back stick, where Šime Vrsaljko was waiting.

His header across the penalty area wasn’t properly cleared by France, with Perisic on hand at the edge of the box to unleash a low drive across Hugo Lloris and into the corner of the net.

It was an outstanding goal, made even better by the significance of the match it was scored in. And it was only right that the final had a goal that will be forever remembered, given how many outstanding strikes there have been at this tournament.

VAR rears its head again

The Video Assistant Referee system was brought in for the first time at the 2018 World Cup and dominated headlines throughout the group stages of this tournament.

However, after several contentious early decisions VAR dropped out of the spotlight since the quarterfinal between Belgium and Brazil. Until the final, that is. Perisic then appeared to flick out his hand when attempting to clear Blaise Matuidi’s duff header across the box.

The referee was initially unmoved, only for the VAR to advise him to watch the incident on the pitch-side monitor. He deliberated for an awfully long time before eventually awarding the spotkick.

It certainly didn’t look a “clear and obvious error” and appeared far worse in slow motion – but all of that is inconsequential. The penalty was given, Griezmann scored and the game changed.

Paul Pogba has been forced to weather a lot of criticism at this tournament. But the truth is he has been one of France’s most important and influential players, particularly during the group stage when he dragged his teammates through gruelling matches against Australia and Peru.

Pogba was equally important in the finals, but this time stepped directly into the spotlight with his brilliant second-half goal – France’s third.

He is a player who has thrilled whenever freed from the defensive responsibilities that have shackled him at Manchester United.

Not that that side of his game is missing, mind: no player on the pitch made more tackles than him, while only two made more interceptions.

And maybe Lovren isn’t the best defender in the world after all…

After Croatia’s extra-time win over England, Dejan Lovren said: “I took Liverpool to the final of the Champions League. Now with my national team we are in the final. I think people should recognise that I am also one of the best defenders in the world and not just talk nonsense.”

Naturally then, all eyes were on the Liverpool defender during this final. He played reasonably well and certainly avoided the complete horror show many supporters were rooting for, but once again he was outclassed by his defensive colleague Domagoj Vida.