France vs Croatia: 5 of the Best all European FIFA World Cup Finals

The greatest spectacle on earth is coming close to its extravagant ending. The FIFA World Cup 2018 has been a fantastic Flag Bearer of the beautiful game and has showcased some fabulous games of football and many exceptional talents on the field. There have been 163 goals in the 63 games played so far, with an average of 2.6 goals per game. There has been a total of 48993 passes, averaging 777.7 per match. There has been 216 Yellow Cards and only 4 Red Cards. The tournament has boiled down to its main event, the FIFA World Cup Finals and the honour to be “crème de la crème”. France and Croatia have earned the right to face each other in a befitting end to the tournament, setting up an all European Final for the 9th time in the history of the World Cup, riding victories in battle after battle, and getting ready to win the war.The two have met 5 times in total and Les Blues reign supreme, winning 2 games, while the rest ended in draws. Their last meeting was in the 1998 World Cup Semi Final, where a spirited France team came from a goal down to win the game 2-1, eventually going on to win the World Cup. Both France and Croatia have been fabulous so far in this World Cup and have set up an exciting World Cup Final to look forward to.Croatia started the tournament with a 2-0 win over Nigeria. They followed it up by brushing aside Argentina 3-0 and getting the better of Iceland 2-1. They topped their group and went on to the round of 16, where they had to fight it out with Denmark, eventually winning the game 3-2 on penalty shootouts, as the game ended 1-1 after extra time. In the Quarter Finals, they played arguably one of the games of the tournament against Russia. When the score stayed 2-2 after 120 minutes of football, the game went to penalties, where Croatia won 4-3. In the semi-final against England too, the game ended 1-1 after 90 minutes and a Mario Mandzukic penalty won the game in extra time. Croatia played 6 games, winning all of them, scoring 12 goals, the second highest after Belgium.France won the first game of the group stages 2-1 against Australia and continued their winning streak with a narrow 1-0 win over Peru. In the last game of the group stages, they were held to a goalless draw against Denmark. In the round of 16, France defeated Argentina 4-3 in a hugely entertaining game. They won their Quarter Final against Uruguay 2-0. The semi-final game saw them overcome a resilient Belgium side by a 1-0 margin. France played 6 games, winning 5, scoring 10 goals.None of France’s games went into extra time, whereas Croatia have played 3 back to back games of 120 minutes leading up to the final; whether this works as an advantage to either team is yet to be seen. In the last two times that the final of a FIFA World Cup featured a first-time finalist, both resulted in maiden wins (1998 and 2010).Before Croatia and France take to the fields, there have been 8 all European finals before and we take a look at 5 of the best of them, including one that is considered the greatest FIFA World Cup Final of all times.#5 The Netherlands vs West Germany - 1974 World Cup Final, GermanyGermany and Netherlands faced each other in the 1974 World Cup Final on 7th July 1974 at the Olympiastadion, Munich. In a game attended by 75200 spectators, Netherlands took the lead as early as the 2nd minute in front of the home crowd, when Neeskens converted a penalty. But West Germany levelled the game with Breitner’s 25th-minute penalty. The legendary Muller scored 2 minutes before half time to give West Germany the lead, which they held on to, winning the World Cup.

France vs Croatia: 5 of the Best all European FIFA World Cup Finals

#3 Italy vs France – 2006 World Cup, Germany