A closer look at teams that made final
France have the advantage of age, vitality, rest and record against tiny Croatia tonight
WHY FRANCE WILL WIN
Les Bleus have an average age of just over 26, one of the youngest in the tournament, and an exciting, speedy spark in 19-year-old Kylian Mbappe, who will be difficult for Croatia to contain. Goalkeeper Hugo Lloris provides the ability to come up with big saves. France will have four days of rest, one more than Croatia, who also are 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 Mandzukic, who have provided important goals in the knockout matches. Perisic and Mandzukic were both on target in their team’s 2-1 win against England in the semi-finals.
PROJECTED LINE-UPS
FRANCE: 4-2-3-1 Lloris; Pavard, Varane, Umtiti, Hernandez; Kante, Pogba; Mbappe, Griezmann, Matuidi; Giroud.
CROATIA: 4-2-3-1 Subasic; Vrsaljko, Lovren, Vida, Strinic; Rakitic, Modric; Rebic, Kramaric, Perisic; Mandzukic.
MAN IN THE MIDDLE
Nestor Pitana of Argentina will referee the final after working Russia’s 5-0 win over Saudi Arabia in the opener. The 43-year-old Pitana also officiated Sweden’s 3-0 group-stage victory over Mexico, Croatia’s penalty-kick win against Denmark in the round of 16 and France’s 2-0 quarter-final triumph over Uruguay. He worked four games at the 2014 World Cup, including Germany’s 1-0 win over France in the quarter-finals and the United States’ 2-2 draw with Portugal in the group stage.
FROM HISTORY BOOKS
France won their only World Cup title at home in 1998, beating Brazil 3-0. Zinedine Zidane scored two goals and Emmanuel Petit added the other. Les Bleus 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 hit the crossbar with France’s second penalty kick in the shoot-out, and Italy won when Fabio Grosso converted the Azzurri’s fifth kick.
France beat Croatia 2-1 in the 1998 semi-finals. Lilian Thuram scored two goals for France.
Croatia beat the Netherlands in the third-place play-off for their previous best World Cup performance.
FRANCE GOALS
Australia (2-1): Griezmann (58-penalty), own-goal (81)
Peru (1-0): Mbappe (34) Denmark (0-0) v Argentina (4-2): Griezmann (13-penalty), Pavard (57), Mbappe (64, 68)
Uruguay (2-0): Varane (40), Griezmann (61)
Belgium (1-0): Umtiti (51)
CROATIA GOALS
Nigeria (2-0): own-goal (32), Modric (71-penalty)
Argentina (3-0): Rebic (53), Modric (80), Rakitic (90+1)
Iceland (2-1): Badelj (53), Perisic (90)
Denmark: (1-1, 3-2 penalty shootout): Mandzukic (4)
Russia (2-2, 4-3 penalty shoot-out): Kramaric (39), Vida (101)
England (2-1): Perisic (68), Mandzukic (109)
HEAD TO HEAD
France have won three of five meetings, with two draws. The only competitive match in addition to the 1998 World Cup semi-finals was a 2-2 group draw at the 2004 European Championship.
FASHION FILE
Croatia will wear their iconic red-andwhite checkerboard jerseys for the first time since their opening match, and their shorts and socks will be white. France will wear all dark blue for the second straight match rather than their traditional tricolour of blue shirts, white shorts and red socks, which they wore only for the quarterfinal match against Argentina.
JUST SAYING
FRANCE: “The trophy is so close that we want to touch it. But before touching it there is still 90 or 120 minutes, and we will have to put everything on the line. I think that this is the game of our life.” — French midfielder Blaise Matuidi.
CROATIA: “We love to be the underdogs.” — defender Dejan Lovren.
STATS
GOALS: France 10, Croatia 12
ASSISTS: 4/10
SHOTS: 5/8
SHOTS ON GOAL: 24/26
SHOTS OFF TARGET: 35/50
SHOTS BLOCKED: 16/24
YELLOW CARDS: 10/14
RED CARDS: 0/0
CORNER KICKS: 19/34
OFFSIDES: 2/8
FOULS COMMITTED: 79/101
FOULS SUFFERED: 91/93
BALL POSSESSION: 49 percent/55 percent
PASSES ATTEMPTED/COMPLETED: 2,773/2,331 (84 percent), 3,358/2,755 (82 percent)
DISTANCE COVERED: 607.5km /723.95km.