TODAY’S WORLD CUP MATCHUP

Why France will win

Les Bleus have an aver- age age of one just over 26, of the youngest in the tournament, and an exciting, speedy spark in 19-year-old Kylian will Mbappe, who be difficult for Croatia to contain. Goalkeeper Hugo Lloris provides the ability to come up big with saves. France will have four days of rest, onemore than Croatia, which also is coming off three straight extra-time matches.

Why Croatia will win

Luka Modric, still in his prime at 32, remains one of the world’s dynamic playmakers. He feeds Ivan Perisic and Mario Mand- zukic, who have provided important goals in the knockout matches.

Projected lineups

France: 4-2-3-1 Lloris; Pavard, Varane, Umtiti, Hernandez; Kante, Pogba; Mbappe, Griezmann, Matu- idi; Giroud. Croatia: 4-2-3-1 Subasic; Vrsaljko, Lovren, Vida, Strinic; Rakitic, Modric; Rebic, Kramaric, Perisic; Mandzukic.

Man in middle

Nestor Pitana of Argentina will referee the final after working Russia’s 5-0 win over Saudi Arabia in the opener. The 43-yearold Pitana also officiated Sweden’s 3-0 group-stage victory over Mexico, Croa- tia’s penalty-kick win against Denmark in the round of 16 and France’s 2-0 quarterfi- nal triumph over Uruguay.

World Cup history

France won its only World Cup title at home in 1998, beating Brazil 3-0. Zinedine Zidane scored two goals, and Emmanuel the Petit added other. Les Blues lost the 2006 final to Italy 5-3 on penalty kicks after a 1-1 draw. Zidane was given a red card in the 110th minute by Argentine referee Horacio Elizondo for head-butting Marco Materazzi in response to a verbal provocation. David Trezeguet the hit crossbar with France’s second penalty kick in the shootout, and Italy won when Fabio Grosso converted the Azzurri’s kick. fifth France beat Croatia 2-1 in the 1998 semifinals. Lilian Thuram scored two goals for France.

Head to head

France has won three of five meetings, with two draws. The only competitive match in addition to the 1998 World Cup semifinals was a 2-2 group draw at the 2004 European Championship.

Fashion file

Croatia will wear its iconic red-and-white checkerboard jerseys for the first time since its opening match, and its shorts will and socks be white. will France wear all dark blue for the second straight match rather than its traditional tricolor of blue shirts, white shorts and red socks, which it wore only for the quarterfinal match against Argentina.

Statistics

Goals: France 10, Croatia 12 Assists: 4/10 Shots on 24/26 goal: Shots 35/50 off target: Shots 16/24 blocked: Yellow 10/14 cards: Red 0/0 cards: Corner 1 9/34 kicks: Offsides: 2/8 Fouls committed: 79/101 Fouls 91/93 suffered: Ball 49 perpossession: cent/55 percent Passes attempted/completed: 2,773/2,331 (84 percent), 3,358/2,755 (82 percent) Distance covered: 377.5 miles/449.8 miles

DAN MULLAN/GETTY IMAGES Well-traveled Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic has led his team to within one victory of the World Cup championship.