WC 2018 Final | France vs Croatia

Robespierre wrote:

Freeza wrote:It was more a combined response. Mainly to Unique who called them shit. Pretty disrespectful to a team that's gone farther than England in 50 years with a fraction of the population.

They were rated as one of best NTs even before of WC ( so less surprising than Croatia 98 on paper ) but this tends to underrate the Croatian miracle . I suppose they've same inhabitants than the whole Paris. Except if you are Serbian or French , its' really to hard not supporting them for final imo

I have a lot of factors for supporting either team at this point.

Varane is my favourite player (him or Isco).
Modric is close to same level. Kovacic would be an added bonus, if he actually played. Him playing with a dislocated shoulder against Denmark was ridiculous.
Denmark went out and played better than Croatia until penalties, which would give me some sense of pride.
Underdog story is always nice.

Mbappe possibly deciding a World Cup final at 19 would be something for me to cheer for. Love watching legends in real time, and I think he's going to be one of the greats of the sport in a decade.

Somehow I think no team will open up here and we will go into extra time, last 3 WC finals went into extra time, these games are always intense and rarely entertaining for the neutral watchers. Or maybe a goal from a set piece will decide the match

@Freeza... We really match up well against Croatia, unfortunately for them. Unless they tactically change how they play a bit, which I doubt they can or will at this stage, Croatia plays right into our hands.

Not saying that we're guaranteed to win or that it will be an easy game... It's just that we don't have to do adjust our base plan at all to play Croatia, which is a big advantage.

Nestor Pitana to referee the final

Looks like we have one Argentine in the final after all

The Croatians are playing for their president.

I don't understand FIFA they decide to use a referee with no experience with VAR to referee the final. Unbelievable.

I like Pitana a lot.

They chose him becaause he was amazing throughout the whole tournament. Fantastic ref

Great referee with great presence, but assigning a final to a referee that hasn't had oodles of experience with VAR is risky. He didn't think to invoke VAR in the Russia-Saudi game when there was a probable penalty on a Russian player in the area. Referees with substantial VAR experience are conditioned to go to VAR when there is some doubt. That's my issue with this assignment.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:Nestor Pitana to referee the final

Looks like we have one Argentine in the final after all

He has reason to hate both countries because they both beat Argentina

How much VAR experience can a referee have at this point??

sportsczy wrote:How much VAR experience can a referee have at this point??

Bundesliga, Serie A and MLS have all had it for more than a season.

Get the best man for the job. VAR is in its infancy anyway.

Good decision.

Better a Pitana with no VAR experience than a Rocchi wirh VAR experience. At least the first one is not crap.

As much as I would love to see Modric become a World Champion, I can't see France losing this one.

In any case, it wouldn't be the end of the world if France won it. They have very talented players and have done enough already to deserve winning the whole thing.

Fun piece of information: if France wins the WC, Varane will have won 4 CLs, 2 league titles and a WC by the age of 25. I'm not even counting the gazillion other trophies he won with Madrid (CwC, Supercups,...). Quite impressive.

The big day is nearly here then.

Don't see either teams changing.

I want France to win as they are my 2nd team and because giroud deserves this. But croatia winning will be incredible. A great underdog story.

Also Giroud will score 10000%

Totally supporting Croatia in this one. Friendly brothers from Balkan , underdogs and playing 3 matches on extra-times. Them winning would be a great tale. Not to mention Mandzugod who is my fav grinta player.

France are clear favorites and I have predicted them lifting the trophy but you never know what a group of balkan warriors can do against some expensive and hyped primadonnas.

I've read today that Perisic is in doubt because of a thigh muscle problem, infact he didn't train with the squad but he could work just in the gym ... Meh , I hope he'll be ok . most important match of his life

juvealbanian wrote:Totally supporting Croatia in this one. Friendly brothers from Balkan , underdogs and playing 3 matches on extra-times. Them winning would be a great tale. Not to mention Mandzugod who is my fav grinta player.

France are clear favorites and I have predicted them lifting the trophy but you never know what a group of balkan warriors can do against some expensive and hyped primadonnas.

Basically if you replace Mandzukic for Perisic it's my post.

WE GOT THIS!

Very different feel from the Euro. The big changes:

Kante is here over Moussa Sissoko
Mbappe over Payet
Varane over Koscielny
Hernandez over Evra
Pavard over Sagna

That was the big problem. We were actually a fairly old team in 2016. That's why I was so worried about a short recovery. Payet, Evra, Koscielny and Sagna wilted and Griezmaan/Pogba didn't have the legs to cover for them. So the whole team ended up static for that game. Didn't have the energy to break the PTB Portugal. The two bright spots were Umiti and, believe it or not, Moussa Sissoko on that game.

We are a lot more talented in this game and much younger.

Again, WE GOT THIS. In a big way too. I actually expect us to go up 2 maybe even 3 goals.

Brozovic means loss

Strinic vs Mbappè should be fun

Was about to drive down to Stuttgart and watch the match with the Croats, but am too hungover. Will watch at home and drink coke, too old for this.

Allez les Bleus!

are UK lads watching it on BBC or ITV

RealGunner wrote:are UK lads watching it on BBC or ITV

bbc. better pundits and no adverts. might go out motorbike riding instead though.