Who Will Lift The FIFA World Cup '18?

Sunday pits France against Croatia in the ultimate supremacy battle of the footballing world. A battle that is fought once every 4 years, and which implores the entire human race to clear their schedules, sit on the edge of their sofas, bite their nails and watch. Watch 2 nations go head to head to determine upon which noble soul the title of World Champion shall be bestowed.

Favourites v/s Underdogs

This time, the final World Cup of the decade sees 2 rather dissimilar sides go against each other, from the aura around them to the way they go about the football on the pitch. Croatia was seen as the dark horses for this tournament, with the general public feeling that the likes of Modric, Rakitic and Perisic could spur their team on a little further than what they were realistically capable of, but certainly not where they are today.

France, on the other hand, were the favourites for the length and breadth of the contingent of football fans, with a majority of them feel that a second team of omitted French superstars could be good enough to challenge for the semi-finals at least.

The journey so far:

Croatia walks into the match as second favorites, although they’ve been quite happy to upset the established order throughout their campaign, most notably against Argentina in the group stage, when they delivered a near perfect 90 minutes on a football pitch, walking out comprehensive and worthy 3-0 winners.

Modric scores a goal of the tournament contender

Contrary to that, France was expected to decimate any and everyone who dared to impede their journey to the summit. Instead, fans saw a slightly underwhelming start with respect to the quality of football being played by Deschamp’s men. Even when they blitzed Argentina in an astounding 15 minute spell, the ending was far from comfortable. However, they put that right with a solid display against Uruguay and did just enough to see off a blooming Belgium side en route to the final.

Talking Tactics: Defence

When we talk tactics, the teams sharing a 4-2-3-1 formation is just about as similar as they get.

Whilst the French full back pair of Pavard and Hernandez have been tearing up and down the pitch, the Croatian pair of Vrsaljko and Strinic have been comparatively conservative, with one notable tactic being employed by the latter: Crossing the ball in with bend from ahead of the final third, as compared to the usual near perpendicular crossing from well-advanced positions that we see traditionally. It serves to act as a prophylactic measure against counter attacks, should the cross go wrong and the fullback be left stranded.

Pavard's

sublime half volley in the Ro16

Talking Tactics: Central Midfield

Speaking of counter attacks, it is something the French side has employed very successfully to their advantage. With Paul Pogba playing in a withdrawn midfield role, he is able to pick up the ball from inside his own half and lob a long diagonal for Mbappe to latch onto. Playing alongside Pogba is serial ball winner N’Golo Kante, omnipresent wherever the ball can be potentially recovered.

Under Zlatko Dalic, Croatia has lined up without an out and out defensive midfielder. Marcelo Brozovic is the closest they have to someone who does that. Alongside him plays Ivan Rakitic, and ahead of them is Luka Modric, whose world cup so far has only accentuated his status as arguably the best midfielder in football at the moment. Since neither of them is as defensively deft as their French counterparts, it makes sense to have the full backs stay in withdrawn positions to as to assist with the defending, and prevent Mbappe’s marauding intrusions on the break.

Utterly devastating on the break

Talking Tactics: Attack

France’s front 3 comprises of Kylian Mbappe, whose exploits at the world cup may well have added up to £30m to his transfer valuation; Antoine Griezmann, who is a natural striker, playing in a withdrawn, more creative role; and Blaise Matuidi, a more defensively inclined midfielder. A reason for Matuidi's presence in such an advanced role is that Hernandez gets forward from left back at every possible opportunity, thus creating a void on the flank, which he promptly fills. Griezmann's proficiency in this role can be also questioned, with him not notching up the number a striker of his caliber is capable of.

Croatia play inverted wide men, Ivan Perisic on the left and Ante Rebic on the right, both of whom love to cut inside and get into the penalty box. As a result, Vrsaljko and Strinic have quite often looked to cross into the feet of their attackers, rather than to their heads. Jordan Pickford was kept quite busy in dealing with the low driven crosses in the semi-final, and Hugo Lloris is expected to be likewise.

Possibly the only other similarity offered is that both sides field tall and strong target men for the rest of the team to pick out from out wide, or play off from the centre. Giroud is still looking to stamp his mark on this tournament, whilst Mandzukic just did in extra time against the Englishmen to send his side to the final.

Perisic levels against England

Seeing the polar nature of the two competing sides, it seems that both will be able to exercise their systems to their liking in the final. France will be happy to surrender the possession, and then create chaos on the turn of play, whilst Croatia will be content to have the ball and work their way through or around the French defence, looking for vulnerabilities and pressing on them. It will be a battle of tactical systems, and whose is the more flexible, implementable and permeable on the grandest stage of them all.