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After one month and a total of 62 matches of pure fun, the FIFA World Cup 2018 has reached the culmination of its journey. In the end, it will be France and Croatia, who will battle it out for the biggest prize in World football.
Although France has won the World Cup once in 1998, the Croatians are going to participate in their first ever World Cup final.
France will be heading into the World Cup final as clear favourites, given their talent and squad depth, but the French side, which was expected to blow their opponents out of the water, still hasn't been able to move out of the second gear.
Still, the Frenchmen traversed through the Group as well as knockout phases without much fuss and are on the cusp of yet another International title.
The Croatians, on the other hand, had to struggle to get through the Knockout rounds, after breezing their way past a stern test in the group stages.
But still, the Croatians managed to hold their nerves and are about to become the ninth team overall to lay their hands on the World Cup trophy.
Although there is no dearth of quality and experience in the Croats, there are still a few chinks in their armour, which can be exploited by Les Blues. So without any further ado, here are the three reasons why France will win beat Croatia to Win the World Cup in Russia:
Note- All stats have been taken from whoscored.com
#3 Defensive solidarity
Although the current French team is known to have an unparalleled attacking talent, it has been their defence that has been the major enforcer in their journey to the World Cup final. Their defence has been the unexpected forte in this World Cup and Umtiti and Varane have been in scintillating form.
Such has been the defensive solidity of France that only Argentina was able to score against them from open play. The rest of the lot had to rely on penalties and corner kicks to breach the French defence. Although the pessimistic approach of the team has resulted in narrow victories, their defence has looked assured and has fared well under pressure.
Coupled with the fact that they have arguably the best defensive midfielder in World Cup in N'golo Kante, who has managed to pull off an impressive 2.3 tackles and 3.2 interceptions per game, the defense of France looks all set to frustrate the Croatian attack and will play a pivotal role in deciding the outcome of the game.
#2 Set pieces
In a tournament such as the World Cup, where teams play with a more conservative approach rather than going gung-ho, it is hard to score from open play.
At times when it is hard to find a proper goal-scoring chance, it is the set-pieces which have broken the ice around such crucial junctures.
France, in this regard, has been absolutely terrific. Varane and Umtiti have been absolutely lethal in the air and it was the centre-back duo, who scored the winning goals against Uruguay and Belgium respectively.
Antoine Griezmann has been a great provider from the set-pieces and he was the one who assisted Varane's and Umtiti's goals. Aside from that, the presence of Olivier Giroud and Paul Pogba will look to add more steel to France's aerial threat.
Croatia, on the other hand, has looked prone to concede during the set-pieces, as was the case against Russia and England, despite being a physically dominant team.
France seems to be the most likely team to benefit from such a situation and it is one of the major reason why France looks all set to beat Croatia in the World Cup final.
#1 Fatigue
After an exceptional performance in the group-stages, Croatia was expected to see off the challenges from Denmark and Russia quite easily.
But they were made to toil hard and it was not until the penalty shoot-out, that the winner was decided. And even though they managed to avoid the penalty shoot-out against England, they still had to play for another 30 minutes to win the game.
All in all, Croatia has played a staggering 90 minutes more than France during the knock-out phases of the World Cup, which excludes penalties.
Aside from that, Croatia played their semi-final game against England a day after France played their game against Belgium. So, the Croatians will have a lesser time to recover from fatigue before the big game on Sunday.
France, on the other hand, is a younger and more energetic side as compared to the Croats. They have got a day more to relax as compared to Croatia, and they will be more refreshed going into the World Cup final.
And this is, perhaps, the most prominent why France will beat Croatia to win the World Cup.
Will France win the World Cup? Sound off your opinions in the comments section below!
