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With the much exciting World Cup Finals between Croatia and France about to take place, Let's take a look back into history to find out how these Europeans have fared against each other.
France has taken on Croatia thrice in the World Cup, with two of the meetings coming in the 1954 and 1958 World Cup against Yugoslavia (when Croatia was a part of it). France has won their only World Cup fixture against Croatia, while it has lost both their World Cup fixtures against Yugoslavia.
As Croatia
#1 1998 World Cup, France: France 2-1 Croatia
2018 World Cup finalists France and Croatia have faced each other only once in 1998 World Cup as independent nations. 1998 World Cup saw the second golden generation of France taking on the first golden generation of Croatia, as both the teams looked to enter into the World Cup Finals.
The hosts France came into the tournament as strong favourites with players like Zidane, Thuram, Henry and present French coach Didier Deschamps, to name a few in the long list of stars, and progressed to the semi-finals. The then newly independent and debutants Croatia came into the tournament with players like Suker, Boban, Jarni, and Prosinecki, to name a few, and also progressed to the semi-finals.
The match is infamously remembered for the red card received by Laurent Blanc on Slaven Bilic, when the latter made the referee give marching orders to Blanc, that would see them miss the eventual final against Brazil. It was the unlikelier Croatia who took the lead in the match as, the eventual 1998 Golden Boot winner, Davor Suker slotted home in the 46th minute to give Croatia a 1-0 lead just after half-time. The lead did not last more than one minute as Lilian Thuram scored his first ever international goal for France in the 47th minute to level the score and nicked in the winner in the 70th minute.
As Yugoslavia
#2 1954 World Cup, Switzerland: France 0-1 Yugoslavia
The first-ever meeting between both the teams took place on 16th June 1954 in the Stade Olympique de la Pontaise stadium in Lausanne, after both the teams were drawn into the same group.
The French came into the 1954 World Cup after failing to qualify for the previous World Cup in Brazil in 1950, while Yugoslavia came into the World Cup after a first-round exit in the previous World Cup.
In a match of very few details, Milos Milutinovic scored in the 15th minute to give Yugoslavia the lead which eventually was the winner as France lost 0-1 Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia went onto to lose their next match against the eventual World Cup winners, West Germany, while France went out of the World Cup after failing to qualify the group stages.
#3 1958 World Cup, Sweden: France 2-3 Yugoslavia
The second meeting took place in the next World Cup, the 1958 World Cup, as once again both were drawn against each other in the same group. On 11th June 1958, both the nations played against each other for the second time in successive World Cups.
It was the French who took the lead after Fontaine scored in the 4th minute to open the scoring. Aleksandar Petakovic scored in the 16th minute to level things up for Yugoslavia, while a 63rd-minute goal from Toza Veselinovic gave Yugoslavia the lead for the first time in the match. Just Fontaine once again scored in the 85th-minute to level things up, only to be denied a point as Veselinovic scored another in the 88th-minute to give Yugoslavia their second victory over France in the World Cup.
Yugoslavia went on lose to West Germany in the quarterfinals, while France went onto to lose against Pele inspired Brazil in the semi-finals.
