{"id":1228,"date":"2018-07-16T12:18:40","date_gmt":"2018-07-16T06:48:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/?p=1228"},"modified":"2018-07-16T12:23:18","modified_gmt":"2018-07-16T06:53:18","slug":"cest-magnifique-france-wins-fifa-world-cup-2018-after-20-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/2018\/07\/16\/cest-magnifique-france-wins-fifa-world-cup-2018-after-20-years\/","title":{"rendered":"C\u2019est Magnifique! France Wins FIFA World Cup 2018 After 20 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"
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France, for the second time in their history, have won the World Cup, beating Croatia 4-2 in the Luzhniki Stadium on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Twenty years ago, Zinedine Zidane stepped up to become his country\u2019s hero, scoring twice against Brazil in the Stade de France. Through the 90 minutes in Moscow, Les Bleus discovered new heroes all across the pitch.<\/p>\n

Antoine Griezmann\u2019s free-kick was headed into his own net by Mario Mand\u017euki\u0107 after 18 minutes to give the favourites the lead but the Croats levelled through Manchester United transfer target Ivan Peri\u0161i\u0107.<\/p>\n

The final was nearly marred by controversy when Peri\u0161i\u0107, after the referee spent a long time watching replays at the side of the pitch, was judged to have handled a France corner. A penalty was given, and Griezmann tucked it away.<\/p>\n

In the second half, although Croatia started well, two superb moves saw Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 score, the latter becoming the first teenager to score in a final since Pel\u00e9.<\/p>\n

Lloris gave Croatia hope with 21 minutes to go when he gifted Mandzukic a goal, trying to beat him in his own area, but France held on and Didier Deschamps became just the third man to win the World Cup as a player and a manager.<\/p>\n

Here are five things we learned from France\u2019s 4-2 win over Croatia.<\/p>\n

Croatia\u2019s fatigue factor finally took its toll:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Croatia took the long route to the final, coming through two penalty shootouts and another period of extra time against England to get to the final. They could be forgiven for approaching this match with an element of physical and mental tiredness, and yet they started the match full of urgency and really tried to force the issue.<\/p>\n

However, as the match wore on and with the perceived refereeing injustices, physical and mental tiredness seemed to creep in. The third and fourth goals were arguably a result of that, and for all of their battling determination and refusal to give up, this proved to be a bridge too far against a superbly talented France team.<\/p>\n

They can take so much heart from their run to the final, however, and have inarguably shown themselves to be one of the best teams in the world with this campaign.<\/p>\n

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Handball, as a rule, needs a clearer definition as VAR comes into play again<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Undoubtedly the most controversial moment of the first half came when Ivan Perisic was (eventually) adjudged to have handled the ball in the box, after an extensive period of checking the footage by the referee. The ball touched the Inter midfielder\u2019s hand, of that there is no doubt, but after that, the rules aren\u2019t exactly clear.<\/p>\n

The Video Assistant Referee system was brought in for the first time at the 2018 World Cup and dominated headlines throughout the group stages of this tournament.<\/p>\n

However, after several contentious early decisions \u2013 including Australia paying the penalty against France, and that amusingly chaotic finale to Group B \u2013 VAR has rather dropped out of the spotlight since the quarter-final between Belgium and Brazil when several decisions went against an increasingly frustrated Neymar.<\/p>\n

Until the final, that is. After scoring that memorable goal, Peri\u0161i\u0107 then appeared to flick out his hand when attempting to clear Matuidi’s missed duff header across the box. The referee was initially unmoved, only for the VAR to advise him to watch the incident on the pitch-side monitor. He deliberated for an awfully long time before eventually awarding the spot-kick. It certainly didn\u2019t look a \u201cclear and obvious error\u201d and appeared far worse in slow motion \u2013 but all of that is inconsequential. The penalty was given, Griezmann scored and the game had changed.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear whether or not Perisic touched it deliberately \u2013 given how close Blaise Matuidi was to him and how little time he would have had to react either way, it seems unlikely but not impossible. And yet, would that even matter in the strictest interpretation of the rules? Some referees, upon seeing the footage,\u00a0 would not have given the penalty for that, and some (like Nestor Pitana today) would. It\u2019s subjectivity that FIFA would do well to cut out of their laws and clear up what should and should count as a handball worth penalising.<\/p>\n

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Pogba stepped up on the big stage<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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The midfield battle between N\u2019Golo Kante\/Paul Pogba and Ivan Rakitic\/Luka Modric was set to be one of the most intriguing of this encounter, and yet that\u2019s not how it turned out. Remove Pogba\u2019s goal from the equation and it was evident that there was an element of control in the centre by Croatia \u2013 especially in the first half.<\/p>\n

Paul Pogba has been forced to weather a lot of criticism at this tournament. But the truth is he has been one of France\u2019s most important and influential players, particularly during the group stage when he dragged his team-mates through gruelling matches against Australia and Peru.<\/p>\n

Pogba was equally important here, but this time stepped directly into the spotlight with his brilliant second-half goal \u2013 France\u2019s third. His first shot was blocked, but he steered his second bite at the cherry confidently past Danijel Suba\u0161i\u0107 and into the corner of Croatia\u2019s goal.<\/p>\n

As Kante was having an off-day, it was left to Pogba to do the work of two men. The Man United midfielder has been terrific for much of this tournament and today was no different \u2013 tracking back when needed, selflessly putting the team first and being the team\u2019s \u201cwater carrier.\u201d His goal, a brilliant finish and just reward for his performance, was a natural consequence rather than a forced moment.<\/p>\n

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The tournament was given the brilliant, crazy final it deserved<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Penalties, own goals and VAR had been the main talking points of this World Cup, so it was only fitting that the final would include all three. If the 2014 final was seen as a nervy, attritional final, this was anything but as both sides really went for it at times.<\/p>\n

It was a bizarre final in many ways, as France rarely looked like a team in enough control over Croatia to have put four goals past them, but it was the fitting conclusion to a tournament that has not been short of incident, full of drama, intrigue, controversy and fantastic goals. A brilliant tournament comes to a conclusion with a suitable finale.<\/p>\n

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Mbappe is shaping up to be a World beater:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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On Sunday, Mbapp\u00e9 became the third youngest player to start in a World Cup final and with his 65th-minute strike, he became the first teenager since Pele to score in the showpiece event.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t his greatest game of the tournament, just two shots on goal and 13 passes attempted, but his eight take-ons and recovering the ball seven times, he was everywhere France needed him and his pace was a constant threat.<\/p>\n

Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have never managed to win the World Cup and always have it held against them.<\/p>\n

Mbapp\u00e9 has done that now, aged 19 and now he has another 10-12 years to win a couple of Champions League medals, a few Ballon d\u2019Ors and cements his place as one of the greatest of all-time.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

France, for the second time in their history, have won the World Cup, beating Croatia 4-2 in the Luzhniki Stadium on Sunday. Twenty years ago, Zinedine Zidane stepped up to become his country\u2019s hero, scoring twice against Brazil in the Stade de France. Through the 90 minutes in Moscow, Les Bleus discovered new heroes all across the pitch. Antoine Griezmann\u2019s free-kick was headed into his own net by Mario Mand\u017euki\u0107 after 18 minutes to give the favourites the lead but the Croats levelled through Manchester United transfer target Ivan Peri\u0161i\u0107. The final was nearly marred by controversy when Peri\u0161i\u0107, after the referee spent a long time watching replays at the … Continue reading “C\u2019est Magnifique! France Wins FIFA World Cup 2018 After 20 Years”<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":1233,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[377,505,407,441,472,470,529,468,464,326,508,530,471,321,443,506,504,507,503,501,466,318,418,502],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1228"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/76"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}