France wins World Cup
MOSCOW — Taking turns sliding across the rain-soaked turf while holding the World Cup trophy tightly, teenager Kylian Mbappe and the other members of France’s men’s national soccer team acted like the youthful bunch they are.
Nothing was going to stop this celebration. It carried on long after a thrilling 4-2 win over Croatia in the World Cup final Sunday. That included in the locker room with France President Emmanuel Macron, who posed with players, and during a champagne-spraying, water-splashing interruption of coach Didier Deschamps’ news conference.
“Sorry! They’re young and they’re happy,” Deschamps said, sounding like a proud father.
Deschamps had good reason to indulge them. His team is mostly 25 or younger and can return almost intact in a bid to repeat as champions four years from now in Qatar.
“Our children are going to be very proud,” France forward Antoine Griezmann said. “The World Cup, it’s a lot.”
Mbappe, 19, became only the second teen after Pelé to score in a World Cup final.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was on the field after the match to award medals to Les Bleus in a ceremony soon drenched in rain and joy. As thunder cracked, FIFA president Gianni Infantino handed France captain Hugo Lloris the gold team trophy.
Gold confetti stuck to the soaked players as they paraded the trophy around Luzhniki Stadium, a final act of an enthralling tournament in which Croatia reached its first final while Argentina, Brazil and Germany were among the traditional powers who went home early.
In the 65th minute, Mbappe sent a right-footed shot from 25 yards out past goalkeeper Danijel Subasic, putting France up 4-1 and closing the door on an opponent that had
been the better team until Mbappe took control.
Mbappe, who plays professionally for Paris Saint-Germain in the French league, was born months after France won its only other World Cup title in 1998. He had four goals during the monthlong tournament and was one of four players who tied for second on the scoring list in Russia, with England’s Harry Kane winning the Golden Boot with six goals.
There’s time for Mbappe to add that honor, too, and maybe more championships.
“I have a whole story to write,” Mbappe said. “This is just the beginning.”
Paul Pogba and Griezmann, France’s two other key creative players, also scored. Pogba played a disciplined role in Russia, but his natural joy was evident celebrating his 18-yard shot and later leading the champagne shower of Deschamps.
Mbappe, though, put the match out of reach with a furious stretch of play in the second half. In the 59th minute, the young striker’s speedy dribble started a play that ended up with Pogba on the edge of the penalty area. With his second attempt, the midfielder curled his shot beyond Subasic.
Griezmann scored from the penalty spot in the 38th, four minutes after his corner kick was knocked out of play by Ivan Perisic’s arm. The referee ruled it a handball only after a video review, just as the first thunderclaps boomed around the stadium.
“In a World Cup final, you do not give such a penalty,” Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic said.
France scored first in the 18th minute, when Croatia’s Mario Mandzukic rose to meet Griezmann’s free kick with the top of his head but deflected it past his own goalkeeper.
Perisic scored an equalizer in the 28th minute and Mandzukic had a consolation goal in the 69th, embarrassing Lloris with a flicked shot as the France goalkeeper tried to dribble the ball out of his goalmouth.
The three-goal deficit, though was too much for the red-andwhite-checkered squad that made a habit of coming back at the World Cup — and played three straight 120-minute games before the final.
“We were dominant, we had control,” Dalic said through a translator. “What we’ve had in terms of luck over the tournament, we lacked that today.”
Deschamps became only the third man to win the World Cup as a player and a coach. He joined Mario Zagallo of Brazil and Franz Beckenbauer, who captained West Germany.
France’s captain 20 years ago, Deschamps was lifted up by his players on the field and flung into the air several teams and caught. The normally staid coach did a few skipping dance steps in the rain before stopping and laughing at himself.
It was that kind of unbridled evening for the French, who won with an exuberance not often seen during their mostly efficient, controlled title run.
“I had the immense pleasure and immense privilege to live through this as a player 20 years ago, and it was in France, so of course it will be marked in my memory forever,” Deschamps said. “But what the players did today is just as beautiful, is just as strong.”