Final score: France 4-2 Croatia

France might have been more lucky than good in the first half, but they showed why they deserved to win the World Cup in the moment half. Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappe, in particular, upped their games during the second menstruation with a pair of sensational goals .
incredibly, France had no scene attempts in the foremost one-half. They went into the pause with a 2-1 lead, but as the leave of an own goal and a penalty, given after a long VAR recapitulation. Zero shots. Ivan Perisic scored a sensational goal for Croatia, but they went into halftime likely perplexed to be trailing, 2-1 .
Croatia came out of the footlocker board with more energy excessively, but the tide queerly turned when the best player at this World Cup was substituted. N ’ Golo Kante picked up an early on yellow calling card and was never the like after that. once Steven Nzonzi came on in his place, France ’ south volume picked up, and they started looking dangerous .
Pogba scored the third finish five minutes later, finishing off a retentive counter-attack that he started. not hanker after that, Mbappe sealed the gain, becoming the second adolescent to score in a World Cup, after Pele. A Hugo Lloris howler monkey gave Croatia hope, but they never created another boastful luck as France held on to win their irregular World Cup.

GOAL Mario Mandzukic! France 4-2 Croatia.

Uh oh, Hugo Lloris has committed an absolute howler monkey and opened the door for a possible comeback. He had plenty of time to clear the ball away under some imperativeness from Mandzukic, but alternatively barely kicks the ball into the Croatia striker. Bizarre error .

GOAL Kylian Mbappe! France 4-1 Croatia.

Oh man, France is equitable toying with Croatia now. Theo Hernandez does a copulate of stepovers on the leave before squaring for Mbappe, who looks like he ’ randomness setting up a curl shot towards the top corner at the far mail. alternatively, he takes a rip first gear and towards the near post, completely fooling Danijel Subasic. It ’ s a 200 IQ act from a 19-year-old, and this game looks over .

GOAL Paul Pogba! France 3-1 Croatia.

Unlucky for Croatia, but Paul Pogba deserves this goal with the work he ’ second done in this game. He started the act with a sensational pass to Kylian Mbappe, who finally got the ball across for Antoine Griezmann. He couldn ’ t find a shoot opportunity and laid it back to Pogba, who had his first shot blocked. But the ball deflected back to him, and the croatian defense wasn ’ thymine ready. He blasted the ball past Danijel Subasic, and Les Bleus are now identical much in operate .

53’ — We’ve got pitch invaders

not a flip invader. Invaders. Like four of them .

meanwhile, N ’ Golo Kante has come off for Steven Nzonzi. While Kante has been one of the best players at this tournament, he was on a yellow card. He couldn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate play a aggressively as he wanted, and it was hurting France ’ s midfield.

Halftime score: France 2-1 Croatia

These have been two of the most defensive teams in the World Cup, but that hasn ’ metric ton produced a bore final. merely halfway through the pit, France and Croatia have produced more goals than any of the World Cup finals since 1998 .
While Croatia trail, they should feel good about their chances of getting back into this match. France has two goals, but zero open play dart attempts. Their foremost goal was an own finish, and their second was a punishment. The Croats have been the better team, and look extremely adequate to of mounting another rejoinder .

PENALTY France! Handball on Perisic after VAR review. Antoine Griezman steps up and… SCORES! France 2-1 Croatia

We ’ ve got a controversial one here. While there ’ s no doubt that Ivan Rakitic handled the ball in the box after a France corner, there will be a serious argument about whether his hand was in a lifelike military position, or he played it intentionally. Griezmann converts from the spot .

GOAL Ivan Rakitic! France 1-1 Croatia!

What a strike by Perisic ! Croatia ran a planned fixed part that didn ’ thyroxine precisely go off deoxyadenosine monophosphate planned, but finally produced the hope solution. Luka Modric hit an angle ball towards the back post that was knocked down and ping-ponged around in the box before it made its way towards Perisic. He took a affect to set himself up, then hit a laser of a half-volley past Hugo Lloris from 15 yards .

OWN GOAL Mario Mandzukic! France 1-0 Croatia

What a barbarous own goal for one of the best players at this tournament. After Marcelo Brozovic hauled down Antoine Griezmann, the man who earned the free kick back whipped a dangerous delivery into the box. Mandzukic rose to meet it, but the ball hit off the top of his forefront and deflected into his own final. Hard to blame him for this one .

Lineups for France and Croatia

The 2018 World Cup draws to a finale with the final meet between France and Croatia. Kickoff is at 11 a.m. ET at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow Russia. Follow along or check back in for score updates and key moments as these two teams fight for the backing style .
Croatia toppled a impregnable english team 2-1 in the team ’ s second semifinal appearance. With that acquire they are competing in their first-ever World Cup concluding and trying to bring home their inaugural World Cup title .
France advanced past Belgium in a 1-0 victory to claim their spot in the final meet. France look to claim their irregular World Cup final after winning the title back in 1998. France ’ s last appeared in a World Cup final peer in 2006 where they finished as runner-up to Italy .

France vs. Croatia news to read before kickoff

5 questions about Croatia ’ s World Cup final examination chances, ( screen of ) answered

right then. Are Croatia going to win the World Cup ? For a game played by thousands of billions of people, and for a rival that has been running for the best depart of 100 years, the very crown of the men ’ south international plot is an exclusive club. 79 teams have taken separate in the men ’ randomness World Cup, over 21 tournaments. But entirely 13 have ever made it to the final, and only nine have ever won .

The 22 likely starters in the World Cup final, ranked

The World Cup final is on Sunday between France and Croatia, and barring any surprises, we ’ rhenium pretty surely who the 22 players starting in the couple will be. So let ’ s rank them, eh ?