Didier and va va voom take the cup
AFTER two decades, France are once again world champions. But it wasn’t that straightforward as Croatia put up a good fight in an entertaining goal-fest.
The man who captained Les Bleus to glory in 1998, Didier Deschamps, repeated the feat as a coach 20 years later to join an exclusive club of men who have won the World Cup as both player and coach.
Before France’s 4-2 win over Croatia yesterday in Moscow, only Germany’s Frantz Beckenbauer and Brazil’s Mario Zagallo had managed this feat.
The victory was made sweeter for Deschamps by the fact that it silenced detractors. His job was under threat heading into their clash with Argentina in the quarter-finals.
France put four past Argentina to reach the semi-finals and yesterday they put four past Croatia to win the World Cup for the second time.
Les Bleus’ talisman Kylian Mbappe, 19, who scored the fourth goal, wasn’t born when France won the World Cup for the first time 20 years ago. Paul Pogba gave the French breathing space by making it 3-1 just before the hour mark.
Pogba’s goal was the first Danijel Subasic picked from his own net without much complaint. The Croatian goalkeeper was first beaten by his own teammate Mario Mandzukic, who deflected a French corner into his own net.
The second goal will be debated for years to come.
Argentinian referee Nestor Pitana awarded France a penalty after consulting Video Assistant Referee (VAR) which recommended that he relook at Ivan Perisic’s handball inside his own box. Perisic did handle the ball, but whether it was intentional or not is up for debate.
Antoine Griezmann helped France reclaim their lead with 12 minutes before half-time after Perisic levelled matters with a thunderbolt just outside a congested box.
While Perisic went from hero to villain, Mandzukic did it in reverse. After scoring an own goal, the striker made amends by scoring Croatia’s second. But by then France were halfway from being world champions. The celebrations of Bastille Day, on Saturday, are set to continue, thanks to the French team’s va va voom.